Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 319: Priest Si Nong
Lu Zheng looked at Wang Fang, a hint of confusion flashing across his face.

The opponent came with great momentum. I originally thought that even if this fight didn't decide life or death, it would still be a good fight.

As a result, Wang Fang admitted defeat so quickly that Lu Zheng was unable to figure out his intentions for a moment.

Wang Fang made a gesture in his sleeve with one hand and retracted the small green flying sword.

Without looking closely, Wang Fang also felt that a crack appeared on the flying sword that he had nurtured for many years, which made him feel distressed.

The killing move failed and instead damaged his own flying sword, which was completely beyond Wang Fang's expectations.

The fighting ability displayed by Lu Zheng is no weaker than his.

If the fighting continued like this, Wang Fang felt that he would suffer even greater losses.

The other party only gave that little reward, why bother risking your life!
Although it was embarrassing to admit defeat so quickly, there weren't many outsiders around, and he wasn't in Yongzhou, so it wasn't a big problem!
In a flash of thought, Wang Fang had already figured out the pros and cons of the matter.

Wang Fang restrained his expression and said quietly, "As expected of a young man who has received divine gifts, he does have some skills. His righteous spirit is so pure, I have only seen one like him in my life..."

In order to avoid embarrassing himself, Wang Fang had to hold his nose and flatter Lu Zheng a few times.

It’s not that Wang Fang’s strength is not good enough, but that Lu Zheng’s righteousness is too great!

Seeing Wang Fang's attitude change, Lu Zheng also restrained his momentum and took Zhang Liang's club back into the Wen Palace.

"Thank you for the compliment." Lu Zheng said lightly.

Mi Gu couldn't help but feel relieved when he saw the fight was over, but he still felt a little unsatisfied.

But both of them were fine, so everyone was happy.

Wang Fang didn't want to stay any longer, so he moved his hand in his sleeve and quickly threw out a storage bag, which was the prize for the competition.

This time when he came to Lu Zheng to argue, he didn't get any benefits, but ended up losing everything.

Thinking of this, Wang Fang couldn't help feeling depressed.

Lu Zheng stretched out his hand and took the storage bag. He used his spiritual sense to check the spirit stones in the bag. There were exactly ten thousand spirit stones, no more, no less.

"Farewell!"

Wang Fang bowed and turned to leave.

Lu Zheng suddenly said, "Wait a minute."

Wang Fang paused and looked at Lu Zheng, his expression a little unnatural, and said, "What else?"

Lu Zheng looked at Wang Fang calmly and asked, "I want to know, who asked you to come?"

Wang Fang's eyes flashed when he heard this, and he said, "What do you mean?"

Lu Zheng said calmly, "Why should you hide it? Speaking out some things will not harm anyone. Or are you willing to take on certain things alone?"

When checking the spirit stones given by Wang Fang just now, Lu Zheng clearly felt that some of the spirit stones retained an aura that did not belong to Wang Fang.

Lu Zheng didn't know where these spirit stones came from, but he had some guesses.

After hearing what Lu Zheng said, Wang Fang couldn't calm down. Did he reveal his other intentions?
Wang Fang's expression changed. After a moment's thought, he said, "Someone did come to me and asked me to teach you a lesson. You injured my nephew. Even if he didn't say so, I would have come to you to talk about it. As for who that person is, I don't know. He's hiding very well. I've learned the art of looking at people's auras, and I can only tell that he's not from Chu."

Wang Fang did not admit that he was paid to do the job. If he had said that, it would have been another kind of grudge, and it would have been difficult to resolve the matter.

The purpose of his coming here, of course, was to seek justice for his nephew.

"Is that all?" Lu Zheng asked.

Wang Fang thought about it again and said, "I can't provide you with any more clues."

"Alright." Lu Zheng nodded. "Your Excellency, you should discipline your fellow disciples and prevent them from doing anything rebellious."

Wang Fang's expression froze when he heard this. He turned around and left quickly without saying anything.

Seeing Wang Fang walking away, Mi Gu walked up to Lu Zheng with a smile.

He tutted his words and said, "You have some skills. Even I, the deity, was watching you here and couldn't tell how many tricks you have."

The fight just now was not satisfying at all. Mi Gu felt that Lu Zheng still had many tricks that he had not used yet.

Lu Zheng smiled slightly, "If you don't learn some skills when you're out and about, how can you travel around?"

"That's right." Mi Gu laughed heartily and whispered, "Do you want me to find someone to monitor Wang Fang? Maybe we can find the person behind it."

Lu Zheng shook his head and said, "That's not necessary."

Mi Gu blinked and asked curiously, "Did you guess who it was?"

Lu Zhengdao said, "No, I've offended quite a few people. The Wu people, the An family, the assassin forces, and some demons that might be involved. Maybe some people from your Chu State as well... Anyway, that's all. I'm just sure someone is out to get me. Of course, there's nothing to worry about."

When everyone heard this, they felt very strange. What a guy, he offended so many forces and was not worried at all. If it were them, they would probably not be able to sleep well.

Mi Gu stared at Lu Zheng, wondering if the saint from Anguo had given Lu Zheng some means to save his life when he bestowed the divine gift.

Lu Zheng withdrew his thoughts and said, "By the way, I heard that the City God of Mi has a minister of agriculture under him?"

The State of Chu had a position of Grand Minister of Agriculture, a great god who was in charge of the agricultural affairs of the State of Chu.

Each place also has a Si Nong priest to assist the local City God in his work.

Mi Gu nodded and said, "Yes, why?"

Lu Zheng explained, "I want to write a book on agriculture and would like to ask the Minister of Agriculture for some advice. Is that possible?" "Write a book on agriculture?" Mi Gu looked surprised.

Why did he feel that Lu Zheng was not doing his job properly? He did not study the classics of Confucianism and Taoism seriously, but instead wrote medical books and agricultural books one moment and the next.

"Is there any problem?" Lu Zheng couldn't help but ask.

Mi Gu was surprised and asked, "Won't this affect your Confucian and Taoist practice? Even if you want to do something for the people, you must first improve your own cultivation. Once you have a certain level of cultivation and free time, it won't be too late to do these things."

Mi Gu felt that Lu Zheng should focus on practicing Confucianism and Taoism instead of delving into other subjects.

Lu Zheng smiled and said, "Isn't this also a form of cultivation? The saints taught us to put the people first. I study not only for myself..."

Now that he has become a Confucian scholar, he needs to do more practical things instead of just studying or eliminating evil spirits.

Mi Gu couldn't bear to hear these big words, and said quickly: "Okay, I'll have someone call the Minister of Agriculture. You can tell him anything you want!"

Mi Gu called one of his subordinates and asked him to bring the Minister of Agriculture.

Not long after, the Minister of Agriculture came hurriedly. He was a white-haired old man named Lin Rong.

Lin Rong was a minor local official during his lifetime and was good at farming. After his death, he was selected by Mi Gu and promoted to the position of Si Nong under his command.

Lin Rong was a little surprised when he learned the reason why he came here.

It was just Mi Gu's order, so he didn't dare to refuse and just did his best.

Mi Gu specially provided a courtyard so that the two sides could have a good chat.

Lu Zheng served tea and said, "Thank you so much, Lin Sinong!"

Lin Rong quickly said, "No, no, I've heard of Mr. Lu's talent. It's an honor for me to have the opportunity to have a conversation with him."

Lin Rong witnessed Lu Zheng's demeanor at the Double Ninth Festival a few days ago, but he didn't have the chance to talk to Lu Zheng.

Now Lu Zheng actually wanted to ask him about farming, which made him a little flattered.

After drinking a cup of tea, Lu Zheng got straight to the point.

He took out a crudely written and incomplete agricultural book and handed it to Lin Rong.

Lu Zheng explained, "This is an agricultural book I've compiled based on my own experience and knowledge. The content is incomplete. I'd like to ask Mr. Lin Sinong to take a look and see if there are any omissions or errors."

Lin Rong's face suddenly straightened when he heard this. Is this serious? They've actually already started writing?

He thought Lu Zheng knew nothing about farming and it was just a spur-of-the-moment idea.

Lin Rong quickly took the agricultural book with both hands and slowly flipped through it.

But after a while, Lin Rong's expression changed slightly and his brows furrowed slightly.

It’s not that Lu Zheng’s agricultural book is poorly compiled, but it’s too professional. Some of the techniques in it are things that even he has never heard of or seen before.

At first glance, Lin Rong felt that it made sense and was not a random writing.

"Great, great..."

“How can you actually plant and cultivate good varieties like this?”

"In this way, wouldn't it be possible to increase production significantly..."

Lin Rong held the incomplete agricultural book in his hands as if it were a treasure.

Qing Wan next to him scratched her head. She had also read Lu Zheng's farming book. After all, she had also been farming recently, so she didn't find it that surprising.

Could it be that this Si Nong priest didn't know as much as she did? Qing Wan was suspicious.

Lin Rong flipped through the book slowly and it took him quite a while to finish it. He felt a sense of loss and regret for a while because the book was not complete.

When he came to his senses, Lin Rong found that quite a while had passed, and Lu Zheng and Qing Wan were reading and waiting on the side.

He felt ashamed and apologized quickly, "I was so engrossed in my reading that I kept you waiting for so long. You should have reminded me."

Lu Zheng closed the book and smiled, "Lin Sinong is engrossed in his reading, so please don't disturb him."

It was for this reason that Lu Zheng felt that Lin Rong, the Minister of Agriculture, was indeed more professional and not some priest who was just sitting there doing nothing.

After all, such agricultural books are difficult for people who don’t understand them to read.

Lu Zheng paused and continued, "I wonder if Lin Sinong can find any shortcomings. Please correct me if you can."

"Well-written!" Lin Rong said solemnly, "I feel there are no mistakes, but there are some parts that I don't understand..."

Lin Rong felt that there was nothing wrong with what Lu Zheng wrote, but there were some parts that he didn't quite understand.

"Please let Lin Sinong point it out and we can discuss it together." Lu Zheng said.

Lin Rong then flipped through the agricultural book again and asked Lu Zheng for advice.

Qing Wan, who was standing next to them, also moved closer and listened carefully to their conversation.

During the discussion, the two sides would occasionally take out other agricultural books to read as evidence, and even conduct some experiments directly in the yard to verify the feasibility of certain technologies.

After all this, Lin Rong found that some of the technologies proposed by Lu Zheng were quite feasible and easy to promote, which would benefit agriculture and people's livelihood.

Of course, Lu Zheng’s understanding of farming in this world was incomplete, and he also learned some new knowledge from Lin Rong.

(End of this chapter)