Confucian and Taoist scholar

Chapter 473 Selflessness
Anguo, on the outskirts of Tai'an City, is an elegant landscape garden.

In the spacious reception hall, a group of people dressed in fine clothes gathered together, greeted each other, and then sat down on the floor.

A portly middle-aged man spoke leisurely: "I'm sure you all know why we've gathered here today..."

"Recently, the imperial court has promulgated many new laws, making life difficult for both gentry and merchants. This cannot continue; we must find a way to overcome this difficulty together."

Upon hearing this, the crowd began to whisper among themselves.

"Business has been really tough lately. Some of my gambling dens and brothels have been shut down on suspicion of human trafficking. They almost landed me in jail. I've paid the fines, but they're still closed..."

"Alas, many of the farmlands under my name have been seized by the government, and the hidden properties have also been confiscated... I have a relationship with the Fourth Prince... but the officials of the Princess's residence show no mercy..."

The new laws enacted during this period have caused them considerable losses.

The enormous wealth was confiscated and returned to the national treasury, and they could not get it back even if they wanted to. They could only try to deal with the new policies in order to reduce their losses.

Someone spoke up: "Lord Li, as an official in the court, do you have any insightful opinions?"

Everyone immediately turned their attention to a man sitting in the room.

Seeing this, the man surnamed Li coughed and said, "These recent new policies and decrees are His Majesty's will. The princes and ministers have all advised against them, but His Majesty is determined to go his own way... I have no brilliant ideas, I only know that these new policies and decrees will not be withdrawn in the short term, so you can only bear with it."

Upon hearing this, everyone's expression turned grim.

Someone said, "I've heard that some places are conducting pilot programs, and some taxes have even been added to the tax burden of scholars and cultivators. If this were to be rolled out..."

Someone couldn't help but whisper, "His Majesty's actions are detrimental to the country and its people!"

"It is said that these new laws were proposed by a scholar named Lu Zheng."

"That Lu Zheng who received the imperial gift?"

"I heard he traveled to another country. This man has ulterior motives; could he be a spy for another country? Otherwise, why would he propose these new laws..."

"If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have suffered so many losses."

"It seems he went to the State of Chu. I have dealings with some merchants from Chu..."

"Ahem, I think we should talk about the more important matters first?"

……

At the Princess's residence, An Jing sat in her study dealing with a mountain of official documents.

A maid rushed into the room and whispered, "Master, there is a letter from Young Master Lu Zheng."

As they were talking, the maid handed a wooden box to An Jing.

An Jing suddenly looked up. She hadn't heard from Lu Zheng in a long time, and she was surprised that Lu Zheng had sent her a letter.

She quickly took the wooden box and saw some marks on it, knowing that the letter had not been easy to send and had passed through several places.

She took a letter out of the wooden box and slowly read through its contents.

The letter contained very simple information, mostly about what I had seen and heard.

The handwriting was from Lu Zheng, but the content was too ordinary.

An Jing suddenly remembered something, and pulled out a small notebook, which was a codebook that Lu Zheng had given her before.

An Jing quickly compared the two letters and wrote another letter with completely different content.

In his letter to An Jing, neither the original nor the coded message mentioned anything about his relationship with the Moon Goddess.

Firstly, he was worried that mentioning the Moon Goddess while writing the letter might alert the Moon Goddess herself and lead her to some kind of deduction. Secondly, he felt there was no need for others to worry about him.

A distant source of water cannot quench an immediate thirst, and if Lu Zhengzhen were to die in the State of Chu, even without being informed, some powerful figures in the State of An might be able to guess that he was the one who did it.

Upon seeing the hidden contents of the letter, An Jing's eyes revealed a look of surprise.

Her mind raced, and she picked up the letter and headed to the palace.

In the Imperial Garden of the palace, An Taixuan leisurely enjoyed the cool air. After entrusting many official matters to An Jing, he felt much more relaxed.

Especially recently, the new reform policies have caused too many troubles, which even he finds troublesome, but An Jing is able to handle them well.

An Taixuan pondered that An Jing had learned a lot from Lu Zheng.

Suddenly, An Taixuan glanced to the side and saw An Jing walking quickly towards him.

“Father.” An Jing bowed respectfully.

An Taixuan smiled and waved, "Come sit down and have some tea with me. Judging from your expression, is something making you happy?"

An Jing presented the two letters to An Taixuan, saying, "They are letters from Lu Zheng."

"Oh?"

An Taixuan immediately became interested.

He picked up the letter and looked at it curiously. When he saw the contents that An Jing had deciphered, his eyes lit up with a strange light.

"He actually got two chapters from Mencius? This kid is truly blessed, to be favored by the Sage Mencius..."

The original text of Mencius was already incomplete, and countless people have been searching for the lost chapters for thousands of years. As a result, Lu Zheng went to the State of Chu and found two of them.

Even as the emperor of Anguo, An Taixuan felt that this was too far-fetched.

However, as he continued reading, he was even more surprised.

Because Lu Zheng was willing to hand over those two articles to the Imperial Academy in Anguo, but the conditions were somewhat harsh.

It's not about making a deal with An Taixuan, but about having him act as an intermediary to make deals with those Confucian scholars and Taoist intellectuals, so that they will support the new reform policies.

An Taixuan's heart was stirred. "He really is willing to part with those two articles by sages. Lu Zheng actually asked for nothing in return and instead used them to support Anguo's reforms."

An Taixuan knew that if Lu Zheng said those things, he meant it.

An Jing asked in a low voice, "What does Father think?"

An Taixuan took a sip of spiritual tea and sat there pondering for a moment.

After a long silence, An Taixuan rubbed his cheeks and said quietly, "Sharing the sage's writings with those people doesn't necessarily mean they'll support the reforms. Some people are two-faced..."

There's an old saying, "It's like throwing a meat bun at a dog."

"We've settled down, we're not so destitute that we have to take other people's things to curry favor with them. Wouldn't that imply that we're incapable of implementing the new policies?"

"His ability to obtain the chapters of Mencius is due to his skill and destiny. He is selfless, but I am not that selfish or shameless."

An Taixuan sighed inwardly, realizing that none of the officials in the court combined were as generous as Lu Zheng, which left him with mixed feelings.

Upon hearing this, An Jing whispered, "Father is wise."

Regardless, Anjing was reluctant to hand over the sage's writings to the Imperial Academy for use by Confucian and Taoist scholars.

During this period, few intellectuals supported the reforms; many opposed them.

An Jing knew perfectly well what kind of people those scholars at the Imperial Academy were.

Giving them the sages' writings would be a waste; it would be better for Lu Zheng to use them himself.

An Taixuan glanced at the letter again and said, "It seems he has no intention of returning. To carry such a sacred object and still run around everywhere, he really has a big heart..."

"I must speak to our ancestors about this matter. If anything goes wrong, it will be a great loss to our Anguo."

An Taixuan had previously wanted Xu Shou to bring Lu Zheng back, but it didn't work out.

An Taixuan got up to go find the An family patriarch. After taking a few steps, he looked at An Jing and said, "This is a joyous occasion. It would be even better if we could also give those two disobedient princes and ministers a good talking-to."

An Taixuan felt it necessary to deal with some more people in order to speed up the new policy reforms and bring double joy.

"Your subject understands."

An Jing nodded slightly, and in a flash, he found his target.

An Taixuan chuckled and said, "Very good."

As soon as he finished speaking, An Taixuan disappeared from the spot.

In the blink of an eye, An Taixuan had already arrived at Wensheng Mountain.

He stood outside the Confucian Temple for a moment before he was allowed to enter and meet his ancestor.

After several months apart, An Taixuan noticed that the ancestor was emanating an increasingly profound aura, containing the spiritual essence of the Great Dao.

The old ancestor said quietly, "What does Tai Xuan want with me?"

An Taixuan said softly, "This concerns the writings of a sage, Lu Zheng..."

Upon hearing An Taixuan's account, the old ancestor's eyes gleamed.

The old man said softly, "Two articles by Mencius. It seems that the Sage Mencius truly values ​​him."

Upon hearing this, An Taixuan's expression changed slightly. "Didn't Sage Meng already...? The divine will he left behind can still achieve this level?"

The old ancestor slowly said, "Sage Meng is no ordinary sage. The sacred intent he left behind is not commonplace and cannot be fully understood by me."

"But the fact that Lu Zheng was able to obtain such a sacred object, doesn't that prove something?"

An Taixuan thought it was true; other scholars came and went in the State of Chu, but none of them had found these two articles by the sages.

An Taixuan then asked, "Won't he be in danger outside?"

The old ancestor thought for a moment and said, "If he doesn't reveal the new poems he has compiled, even if someone knows he has the sage's writings, they will at most steal the treasure, but they won't kill anyone. If someone is killed, they will be tainted by many things. But the sage's things are not so easy to take."

The patriarch was not worried about Lu Zheng's safety. The other party had great fortune and considerable resources. Unless a highly skilled person was willing to pay a high price, it would be difficult to cause Lu Zheng any harm.

Now it's widely rumored that Lu Zheng has some connection with him. Even if certain people want to do something, they should think twice about the consequences.

Lu Zheng is very talented and also very young.

Such youth, ironically, becomes a form of protection.

Few strong individuals would take too much risk for a young person who hasn't yet matured.

“Then, should we send someone over…” An Taixuan asked.

The old ancestor said leisurely, "Since he didn't mean it that way, there's no need to go to all this trouble and only arouse suspicion. I also have no opinion on these two articles. You can handle things yourself."

Although Lu Zheng intended to share Mencius's writings, at his level, the two sages' writings were of little use; he needed to find his own way to break through.

As for the matter of the new policies and reforms, he didn't want to get involved; it wasn't something he needed to consider. His top priority now was his own cultivation.

Upon hearing this, An Taixuan quickly took his leave, not wanting to disturb him any further.

He slowly walked back to the palace, pondering whether or not he should send someone to secretly protect Lu Zheng.

Those around him didn't seem suitable to go to other countries, as they might easily be noticed by the righteous gods of Chu.

"Abroad..."

An Taixuan stroked his chin and muttered, "It seems I need to ask Master Xu about it. He's quite familiar with certain forces outside, and we occasionally have dealings with them..."

(End of this chapter)