Supreme Golden Palace

Chapter 40 Tung Blossoms
Who can sleep peacefully with a brother-in-law like this who has a heart as vicious as a jackal?

Lu Shang looked towards the hall in front of him with a hint of melancholy. Lu Yongji could only see the clusters of flowers in front of him, and the sign of a prosperous era to come. He would never have imagined that the Northern Sui Dynasty would only last thirty years.

Who could have imagined that the Northern Sui Dynasty, which was so powerful and wanted to conquer the south and the north and unify the world, only existed for a short thirty-eight years.

If you have not lived in that era, it is impossible to understand the power of the Northern Sui Dynasty.

The Northern Sui Dynasty inherited all the heritage of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. It had abundant treasury, strong armor and powerful weapons. It used military force abroad and governed the people at home. It rebuilt Shuofang and Lingwu in the north to deter the Turks, and stationed troops in Xiangyang and Hankou in the south to intimidate the Southern Chen Dynasty. It also had a number of powerful men such as Yang Lin, Yang Su, Gao Zuo, He Ruobi, Han Qinhu, Shi Wansui, and Changsun Sheng to support it in the court.

However, such a powerful Sui Dynasty perished in the second generation. Once chaos broke out, the whole country rebelled. Eighteen rebel kings and sixty-four rebel forces were rampant. Yang Jian's life's work was completely defeated by Yang Guang in just a few years.

Lu Shang stood in front of the window, looking at the snowy scene in the courtyard, and whispered: "Winter kills and spring gives birth, all things grow, it is hard to defy God's will."

The winter of the fifth year of Kaihuang was extremely cold, with the chill penetrating to the bone. The sky was gloomy and depressing, and the wind and snow roared wildly in the streets and alleys.

The night passed in silence. The next day, when Lu Shang awoke and opened the carved window, he discovered that the courtyard was covered in snow from the previous night's sudden and violent snowstorm. The servants of the Duke's Mansion were clearing the snow in the courtyard, and voices began to rise from the surrounding area.

Looking at the snow pressing down on the branches, the branches swaying and the snowflakes flying, Lu Shang's heart moved, and he raised his hand to signal the governor who was clearing the snow in the yard.

The governor who was assigning servants at the corner of the courtyard saw Lu Shang's gesture at the window and hurried forward and said, "Prince,"

As the governor, second only to the head of the household among the servants of the Duke's mansion, he also wanted to take a step forward and replace Lü Quan as the head of the household. However, Lü Quan and the Duke had been friends since childhood, and no matter how capable he was, it would be difficult for him to replace Lü Quan's position in the Duke's heart.

Therefore, he could only place his hopes on Lu Shang, hoping to become the prince's confidant.

"Strong winds are a disaster, and heavy snow is a disaster. This storm has displaced countless people. Go find Lü Quan and ask him to transfer some money and grain from the treasury."

Lu Shang directly instructed the governor, "Send it to Jingzhao Prefecture and say that this is a kind gesture from the Duke's Mansion. I hope Jingzhao Prefecture can use this grain to properly provide relief to the victims."

"Yes,"

The governor was stunned for a moment by Lu Shang's order, and then responded.

"well,"

Looking at the servants busying around in the snow, Lu Shang just shook his head.

It is said that auspicious snow indicates a good harvest, but few people know that heavy snow can cause disasters, the harm of which is no less than severe floods or droughts.

Under the blizzard, houses collapsed, heating became difficult, roads were blocked, transportation was interrupted, farmland was damaged, and livestock were affected.

If Jingzhao Prefecture had provided timely rescue, many civilians might have been saved.

Although Lu Shang had compassion for this, disaster relief and poverty alleviation were not the responsibility of his Qi County Mansion. The fact that the Mansion could provide money and grain to support Jingzhao Prefecture was already the limit of what a noble man could do.

Disaster relief was a privilege reserved for the imperial court. Providing disaster relief privately without the court's permission was an act of usurpation and an attempt to win the hearts and minds of the people. Only with imperial authorization could local gentry assist the government, with the government taking the lead in setting up small porridge stalls to house disaster victims.

Lu Shang understood all these tricks clearly, so when the snowstorm disaster came, he only asked the governor to take money and food to Jingzhao Prefecture.

Instead of interfering in the government's affairs and distributing porridge to the victims, if Lü Shang really did so, the Jingzhao Prefecture would not care about the face of the Qijun Mansion and would have to make a scene before Yang Jian. This was no small matter; it concerned the authority of the government!
When the county magistrate's treasury was transferring money and grain, Lü Yongji also received a report from the household official Lü Quan. After learning the reason, Lü Yongji did not think twice and doubled the money and grain to be transferred and sent it to Jingzhao Prefecture.

"I didn't expect this kid to be kindhearted. He's a bit like me."

Lu Yongji really didn't care about this little money and grain. As the Duke of Qi, he not only had a fief of two thousand households, but was also granted a large amount of official land. The Duke of Qi's mansion was really not short of money.

Although Yang Jian always considered himself frugal, he was never stingy when it came to rewarding his cousin Lu Yongji.

You should know that during the four years that Yang Jian ascended the throne, he practiced frugality to the point that he was called stingy and even harsh, almost comparable to Emperor Wen of the Western Han Dynasty.

But even so, Yang Jian was never stingy with Lu Yongji, and every reward he gave was extremely generous.

Perhaps because Yang Jian gave Lu Yongji extremely generous rewards, Crown Prince Yang Yong and Prince of Jin Yang Guang thought that Lu Yongji was useful, so they secretly competed to win over Lu Yongji, scaring Lu Yongji so much that he closed his door to visitors and lived in seclusion in his mansion.

February of the fifth year of Kaihuang passed quietly in the blizzard, until the cold and warm seasons alternated, the ice and snow gradually melted, and March officially arrived.

"There are less than twenty days left before the military exam begins."

Lu Shang, who was meditating on the "Golden Hua Jue of the Founder of Fuli" in the pavilion, smelled a faint fragrance. He looked outside the pavilion in surprise, and saw tung flowers quietly blooming.

In the courtyard garden, several tall tung trees stand, their sturdy trunks covered with layers of tender green leaves, as if carved from jade. Clusters of pale purple tung blossoms huddle together, swaying gently in the breeze.

"In March, the tung flowers bloom,"

Lu Shang looked at the swaying tung flowers. March 20th was the day of the Enke military examination.

Facing the tung blossoms swaying in the wind, he suddenly felt something. The tung blossoms bloomed in perfect harmony with the season, without any compulsion. There was something truly wondrous about their naturalness and composure.

With this idea in mind, a flash of inspiration came to me. If I compare myself to the tung flower, every part of my body is a petal, and the force is like the tung flower swaying in the wind, I will no longer stick to fixed rules, but move according to my heart and follow the trend.

Thinking of this, Lu Shang suddenly drew his sword, and a flash of lightning flashed across his hand. This time, he abandoned his previous Chunyang routine, and the sword's momentum changed with Tonghua's posture and wind direction.

Sometimes it resembles the first blossoms of tung blossoms, light and graceful; sometimes it resembles blossoms swaying in the wind, agile and ever-changing. Every swing of the knife is like the unfurling of tung blossoms in the wind, seemingly gentle yet imbued with a deadly stillness.

As his own divine will was being practiced, Lu Shang felt that he had become one with the surrounding environment, as if he were the tung flower, dancing freely in the wind.

After an unknown amount of time, Lu Shang put away his sword and stood up. Although there were beads of sweat on his forehead, his face was full of smiles.

Who says that the Thunder Blade must be as powerful as thunder, causing the sky to collapse and the earth to split?

Born from Wuji, the mother of Yin and Yang is called Taiji. They are mutually generated and restrained. Pure Yang and pure Yin, when they are born and destroyed, confirm Wuji, which is the right way.

Focusing only on thunder, emphasizing killing and power, is undoubtedly a wrong path.

(End of this chapter)