"We originally thought that Lord Zhu was worried about military rations, but that's not the case." Hu Wei shook his head vigorously.
"What's the matter?" Uncle Zhu Shouren and Xia Qiang asked hurriedly.
"Let me remind you of a word, 'borrow'. The key point is this word, so please understand it in your heart!" Hu Wei reminded the two.
"Borrow?" Uncle Zhu Shouren was still a little confused.
"Borrow? The key word is 'borrow'?" Xia Qiang thought for a moment, then suddenly raised his head. He seemed to have an epiphany. "Brother Hu, you mean today's story is about Erzhu Rong using his nephew's head to train his troops. The key point of Cao Cao's story is that Cao Cao used the grain officer's head to calm the army, which is also borrowing a head."
Even without Hu Wei's reminder, Xia Qiang took the initiative to think of the story of Sun Wu, and said in disbelief, "So, we also misunderstood the story of Sun Wu training his troops in front of the palace. The point is not that Sun Wu used his majesty to emphasize military discipline, but that Sun Wu used the heads of his concubines to train his troops, which is also borrowing heads."
Then, Xia Qiang suddenly thought of something, his face turned pale, and he was filled with fear.
"Yes, Brother Xia, you have thought of it too." Hu Wei swallowed and smiled bitterly.
"What do you mean by borrowing a head? What are you talking about?" Uncle Zhu Shouren was slow to react and didn't understand what the two were talking about.
"Hey, Brother Zhu, why don't you understand? The common point of these three stories is borrowing a human head. Rather than saying that Lord Zhu read three stories, it's better to say that Lord Zhu read one story, and that is the story of borrowing a human head!"
Hu Wei looked at his uncle Zhu Shouren with disappointment, sighed for a while, and then spoke word by word.
"Borrow a head?" Uncle Zhu Shouren raised his eyebrows.
"Why don't you understand? If there is any revelation in these three stories, it is about borrowing human heads. Lord Zhu also wants to borrow human heads. He is also thinking of using them to train his troops, my brother Zhu!"
Xia Qiang said with a trembling voice.
"What? You said my nephew is planning to use his head to train his troops?! Impossible, absolutely impossible, don't talk nonsense, my nephew is not that kind of person."
After hearing this, Uncle Zhu Shouren shook his head without hesitation and waved his hands vigorously several times.
"Haha, Brother Zhu, then what kind of person do you think your nephew is?" Hu Wei chuckled and asked his uncle Zhu Shouren with burning eyes.
"My nephew is kind, honest, and simple. He is very similar to my brother. We are both people who like to think about others. He never even killed a chicken when he was a child, so how could he borrow human heads to train his troops?"
Uncle Zhu Shouren squinted his eyes and recalled the past, speaking slowly and firmly that Zhu Ping'an was not that kind of person.
"Honest? Simple? Haha, my brother Zhu, your vision is still stuck in your childhood, right?!"
After hearing his uncle Zhu Shouren's evaluation of Zhu Ping'an's honesty and simplicity, Hu Wei laughed uglier than crying.
"What do you mean? My nephew is like this now." Uncle Zhu Shouren frowned.
"Brother Zhu, my dear brother Zhu, we have heard the stories of your nephew on the way here and in the military camp. Come, let me tell you one by one."
"Your nephew is widely recognized by the court and the public as the 'No. 1 God of Reporting in the Ming Dynasty'. He first impeached a captain who defected to Lord Yan, and the captain was beheaded. He also implicated a senior official in the Ministry of War and demoted him to a commoner. Then, he impeached the Taicang Silver Treasury Case, and even Lord Yan was fined silver. Hundreds of officials were fined, and thousands of treasury clerks, treasury soldiers, and runners were exiled after their property was confiscated. It is said that countless people died on the way to exile. Then, he impeached a senior official named Gao, and twenty or thirty senior officials were implicated and dismissed. The imperial prison is a life worse than death, so miserable; and Yang Jisheng, who has recently become very famous among the people, impeached Lord Yan, and your nephew was also involved in it. Didn’t the people say that if Yang Jisheng had listened to your nephew’s advice and revised the impeachment memorial, it would have been better. If he had listened, it would be Lord Yan who is in prison now, not Yang Jisheng. It was because Yang Jisheng didn’t listen to your nephew’s advice that he failed in the impeachment and was imprisoned, and your nephew was also implicated and demoted to a small county in the south of the Yangtze River to serve as a county magistrate. "
"Brother Zhu, your nephew's title of 'The Great Ming's No. 1 Music God' was built on the backs of countless bones."
"Also, your nephew was banished to a small county in the south of the Yangtze River to serve as a county magistrate. How could he make a comeback and even advance to the fourth-rank official he is today? How did he do it, Brother Zhu, have you ever thought about it?!"
Hu Wei pointed at his uncle Zhu Shouren's nose in frustration and started to argue with him word by word.
"My nephew has made great contributions. He has made great contributions one after another and has been promoted to higher ranks."
Uncle Zhu Shouren replied without thinking.
"Then do you know how your nephew achieved such merit?" Hu Wei asked.
Uncle scratched his head...
"Let me tell you, Brother Zhu. When your nephew was in charge of Jingnan County, more than 2,000 Japanese pirates attacked, and Jingnan had only dozens of soldiers, which were not enough to stop the pirates. In order to gain merit, your nephew treated the common people as grass and ordered them to defend the city. He issued a beheading order, and anyone who retreated would be beheaded. He used the lives of the common people to defend the county, killing thousands of Japanese pirates and recovering a nearby county. It can be said that he used the lives of the common people to achieve a great merit, which promoted him from the seventh-rank county magistrate to the fifth-rank assistant criminal inspector. Under his black gauze hat, there are at least several thousand lives, including those of the common people and the Japanese pirates."
"I won't talk about his merits in disaster relief, but his merit in being promoted from Assistant to Deputy. Dozens of Japanese pirates landed in Shaoxing, and killed more than a dozen counties and seven or eight prefectures in one breath, covering two to three thousand miles, killing countless people. They killed thousands of people in one breath, all the way to the capital Yingtian. No one could stop them, and the officials and the common people were terrified. No officials, whether civil or military, dared to go up. In the end, it was your nephew who drove his soldiers to kill all the Japanese pirates while they were asleep, regardless of their lives."
"And your nephew has just made great achievements during the sea sacrifice. I heard that he killed hundreds of Japanese pirates. Behind each of these great achievements, there are countless bones. Since your nephew became an official, at least 8,000 people have died at his hands."
"He is honest and simple, and has never killed a chicken... It is not an exaggeration to describe him as a murderer."
Hu Wei counted on his fingers, counting all the great achievements that Zhu Ping'an had made, and attributed them to his uncle Zhu Shouren.
"Brother Zhu, you are too honest and simple. You only see the surface of your nephew, but not his true face. Before he was twenty, he won the top three places in the imperial examinations, offended the powerful Lord Yan, and was able to make a comeback. Do you think such a person can be honest and simple?"
Xia Qiang couldn't help but follow suit and preach.