In front of the Hangzhou magistrate's office, facing thousands of aggressive candidates and common people, Dai Quan, the prefect, has fallen into a dilemma.
He could tell at a glance that this turmoil must have been planned for a long time, and He Dingkun, the minister of the Ministry of Rites and the chief examiner of the rural examination, who spoke righteously for the candidates in front of him, was undoubtedly the mastermind. What he knows more clearly is that the other party wants to drag him into the water. As long as he nods in support, their power in Hangzhou and the entire Jiangnan will be greater, and they will become more and more unscrupulous. But he really doesn't want to get involved in this kind of thing, because it has no benefit to him at all.
The other party was obviously coming for Sun Tu, who was now in power in the DPRK and promoting the movement to abolish ancient Chinese literature. The reason why he was quickly promoted from a remote small state to the prefect of a big city like Hangzhou was because Sun Taiwei and others valued him. Come on, he knows where his roots are.
As for the so-called prosperity of culture and education and the inheritance of Confucianism, it is nothing to him. In fact, almost all the people in the world who entered the officialdom through the imperial examination have discarded the things in the sages' books after entering the officialdom. If there are really people who strictly follow the words of the sages and regard those rules as If you do it as an example, you will be dismissed from office after only a few days.
But the problem is, you can put these things on the shelf, but you can't really object. It's really hard for Dai Quan to say in public that he supports the abolition of the ancient civil service examination, otherwise he will be immediately regarded as an enemy by everyone in front of him. This is not something that a small fifth-grade prefect like him can withstand, not even the Minister of Rites in front of him. It's not something he dares to challenge.
So after some hesitation, the only thing he could do was to make peace and delay time. Dai Quan suddenly took a step forward and said loudly: "Dear candidates and colleagues, Dai naturally understands your intentions. But after all, these matters are of great importance, and they are regulations set by the imperial court. It’s really not for me to make random comments. In my opinion, since you have doubts, you should first select a few people to discuss it carefully and see if there is a more reasonable solution. "
"Prefect Dai, I cannot agree with what you are saying. The right and wrong of the matter at present are already clear, is there any need to discuss it? There are treacherous traitors in the court who will disrupt the foundation of my millennium Confucianism. How can we, the sages and sages, let it go? Could it be that you also intend to abandon the way of a saint?" How could He Dingkun let him just delay it so perfunctorily? He immediately yelled and asked again, which put enough pressure on the other party.
And this sentence once again ignited the anger of those candidates. For a while, countless people shouted: "Please make a quick decision, Magistrate Dai, and join us in going to the court to oppose such chaos!"
"If the prefect refuses, then he is a traitor to our Confucianism. We will never let go of any unscrupulous person who betrays the saint!"
"Yes, we are seeking justice for the world, and we will never back down!"
Various denunciations and threats kept coming, which immediately made Dai Quan feel great pressure. Beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead, and sweat was seeping down his back. He looked anxiously into the distance, thinking silently in his mind, why haven't the city's defenders arrived yet? Didn't he already send someone to report to Lin Qianjia urgently? In this current situation, only the garrison in the city can suppress the situation.
Seeing his appearance, He Dingkun became even more determined and took a step forward again: "Prefect Dai, if you don't make a decision, I can only regard you as my enemy!"
"I..." Dai Quan's heart trembled, and he could already feel the strong killing intent from the other party, which made him subconsciously take half a step back. But in this way, the momentum was reduced, which gave the other party the opportunity to continue to put pressure. Everyone stepped forward again, almost stepping onto the steps in front of the government office.
At this moment, the look of shock on Dai Quan's face, who was facing the street outside, suddenly changed, turning into relief and joy. His gaze looked beyond everyone and towards the end of the long street ahead. This change in his expression immediately attracted the attention of He Dingkun and the others, but before they could turn their heads, there was a rumble of footsteps coming from behind, and it seemed that even the ground began to tremble.
There was exactly an army wearing armor, full of energy, and full of murderous spirit. They lined up neatly and rushed over quickly. At first, a general rode on horseback. He had a leopard head with eyes, a short beard and a spear. He was the former commander of the 800,000 forbidden army. Later, he was the brave general in the army before Sun Tu. Today, the Jiangnan Dao army has the head of a leopard. Lin Chong was so proud!
As a general who had known Sun Tu very early and had been with him for a long time, Lin Chong had also made great military exploits in the past few years. Originally, with his status, he could get a better job in the court, and even be sent to the border areas to take charge without anyone raising objections.
However, Lin Chong himself rejected Sun Tu's several arrangements. Because he is very aware of his own abilities. Although he is proficient in martial arts and bravely champions the three armies, he is still far from qualified when it comes to leading troops in war. In addition, he was quite resistant to the intrigues and intrigues in the imperial court and did not want to serve in Tokyo, so in the end Sun Tu gave him command of the army in the south of the Yangtze River.
On the one hand, this naturally showed his trust in Lin Chong. After all, this was the fiefdom of Sun Tu, the Duke of Yue. At the same time, this can also be regarded as a reward for him, because Jiangnan is the richest place in the Song Dynasty and has no foreign troubles. It can be said to be the most suitable place for military officers to retire.
Of course, Lin Chong didn't really come here to provide for his retirement, so after he came here, he actively performed his duties as the commander of the army and actually trained an elite army. The Jiangnan soldiers, numbering 30,000, were now no longer inferior to the general Forbidden Army in terms of combat effectiveness, and most of the credit for this was attributed to Lin Chong. He may not be able to lead troops, but after following Sun Tu for a long time, he is still quite good at training troops. Coupled with his status, the soldiers under his command are naturally convinced and dare not slack off.
With such an elite team, Hangzhou is naturally as stable as Mount Tai. When a sudden disturbance broke out in the city today, Lin Chong received the report at the military camp and quickly summoned troops to go out to deal with it. Then he met someone from the government office on the way, and found out that it was the candidates who were causing trouble and forcing their way into the government office, so he didn't dare to show any signs of neglect and hurried over.
Although there were only two or three thousand people rushing to the scene now, the momentum surrounding them was not inferior to that of tens of thousands. The crowd of five thousand people was instantly suppressed to the point where they could not even breathe, and the shouts could not be heard. At this moment it suddenly stopped.
"Lin Qianha, you came just in time. These candidates caused trouble in the city and surrounded the government office. Now
Just ask you to persuade them to leave. "When Dai Quan saw Lin Chong arriving with his people, he felt certain in his heart and quickly greeted him loudly.
Lin Chong also frowned at this time, and stepped forward with an embarrassed look on his face. The armor leaves on his body made a clanging sound, which was quite impressive. Wherever he passed, the crowds in front of him all moved away, allowing him to go from the back of the crowd all the way to the front of the Yamen like cutting through waves.
After arriving in front of Dai Quan and looking at him, Lin Chong turned around and hugged everyone: "Dear candidates, after all, this is an important place for the government. Please don't cause trouble. In addition, if you have Whatever your demands are, you should speak out in the right way instead of causing chaos and intimidating the imperial officials like today. I think you are just confused for a moment, so I don’t want to pursue it further. As long as you leave here, today’s matter will be over But give it up, if you dare to mess around again, you will have to take action!"
His words were polite, but coupled with the armor and the thousands of soldiers behind him, the pressure was still mounting like a mountain, scaring the candidates into confusion. They may be brave and brave, but most of them are just angry. It is completely impossible for them to fight against the soldiers who are in armor and with swords and guns in their hands.
Some people even started to look around and wanted to run away. When He Dingkun saw this scene, his face suddenly darkened. It is really difficult for these guys to achieve anything. If they are slightly frustrated and stressed, they all just want to escape and give up. Fortunately, I was well prepared and understood the nature of the seemingly majestic and mighty general in front of me, so I immediately stepped forward, stared at Lin Chong and said, "Lin Qianji, please forgive me for not agreeing with what you said. We are not here to stir up trouble, but to call for the right path of the world! How can we, the scholars, allow those conspirators to disrupt our legal system? Even if you kill us today, don't let us change our original intention and retreat. !”
As he spoke, He Dingkun continued to go up, holding his head high, as if he was risking his life. And his statement really aroused the momentum of a group of young candidates. They started to follow, raised their fists and shouted angrily: "We will die for the sake of the righteousness of the world and the Confucian orthodoxy! If we are not given today, Once you get a satisfactory answer, we won’t retreat!”
"Don't retreat!" More people shouted loudly, and their momentum was like a mountain, pressing back up, causing Lin Chong to sway. His biggest flaw is that he is too peaceful, or too weak. Once he encounters a tough opponent, even if he is stronger, he will give in immediately. It was like this when I was a minor official, then it was like this when I was in Qingzhou, and it is still like this today in Hangzhou, even though I clearly hold military power...
He Dingkun had spotted his weakness, and he was even more unscrupulous at this moment, shouting loudly: "Lin Chong, you are just a martial artist, how can you comment on what happens in the imperial examination for scholars like us? Why don't you step aside quickly? …”
Just when he was trying to repel Lin Chong with his aggressive momentum, a sudden change occurred—
There was only a sharp whooshing sound, and a phantom suddenly flew out from the side. Before anyone had time to react, it passed in front of everyone and accurately shot into the mouth of He Dingkun and He Shilang who was shouting angrily. , causing his scolding to be cut off instantly, his body suddenly shook, and he fell down on his back...