First, hundreds of people from Lumenhou's family and Wei Changxian's family wore mourning clothes and knelt outside the Chu Palace, demanding a thorough investigation into the deaths of Lumenhou and Wei Changxian and severe punishment for the murderer.
Secondly, the King of Chu asked Fang Yun to return to Jingzhou to report on his work and report the battle against the Five Barbarians in person.
Afterwards, rumors spread all over the country of Chu, and many people suspected that Fang Yun was colluding with the barbarians, and that the dead barbarian kings and barbarians were fake. Some even said that even if it was true, it might be a self-torture trick of the barbarians.
Fang Yun sat in the Marshal's Mansion, holding the official seal, and looking at the royal decree.
After thinking for a long time, Fang Yun replied that in order to prevent the letter from being delivered incorrectly, he should wait until the king's order from the post station arrived.
As a result, that night, a top scholar in the capital city, who had risen to prominence, traveled thousands of miles and went straight to the Marshal's Mansion, and personally delivered the original document of the royal decree to Fang Yun's desk.
The seal of the King of Chu is clearly visible.
Fang Yun looked at the Hanlin, then at the document, without saying a word.
After a long while, Fang Yun opened the document. The content was exactly the same as the king's order, both of which ordered him to return to Jingzhou.
Fang Yun stared at the Hanlin until he was frightened, then he said, "To prevent the monsters from counterattacking, I will stay in Zhucheng. When you are away from home, you are not bound by the king's orders!"
The Hanlin's expression changed slightly, but he still bowed slightly and said, "Please think twice, Lord Zhujianghou."
"Every time I think of those soldiers who died in battle, I can't tell whether they died at the hands of the barbarians or at the hands of the imperial court. It's quite puzzling. I hope the King of Chu will not force me. It would be embarrassing if I do something that brings shame to the State of Chu. I am a little tired after fighting for days. We can talk tomorrow if we have anything to say." Fang Yun leaned sideways in his chair and issued an order to expel him. His eyes were shining with a faint light in the night, and he looked at the Hanlin opposite him meaningfully.
The Hanlin showed a look of regret and said, "In that case, I will return tonight and report the Marquis' words to the King of Chu truthfully."
"Well, then report it truthfully." Fang Yun said.
"I'm leaving now!"
"I'm sorry I can't see you off."
After the Hanlin disappeared, Fang Yun snorted coldly.
On the second day, the King of Chu issued a royal decree, ordering the military, the censors and the court judge to send people to Zhucheng to investigate the Battle of Lianshan Pass and the death of Lumenhou.
After Fang Yun learned about it, he immediately sent a letter to the Hall of Great Confucian Scholars, and using his privileges as a Grand Secretary, he asked the Hall of Great Confucian Scholars to send people, and at the same time asked the Emperor of Zhou and the kings of various countries to send people to supervise.
The Hall of Great Confucianists quickly handled the matter impartially, requiring Chu officials not to take any action, or even enter Zhucheng, before the arrival of the Hall of Great Confucianists. Otherwise, they would be treated as blaspheming the Hall of Great Confucianists.
The status of the Grand Secretary in the Confucian literary world is almost equivalent to that of the Great Confucian in the Shengyuan Continent. Any monarch who dares to investigate the Great Confucian must do so under the witness of the Holy Academy, and the Holy Academy has absolute veto power. Any unruly behavior will lead to the interruption of the investigation.
In the Confucian literary world, Grand Secretaries also enjoyed similar privileges.
Not long after, the Hall of Great Confucianism announced that it would send personnel to lead officials from the Zhou Dynasty and the six states of Han, Zhao, Wei, Yan, Qi and Qin to Zhucheng, and arrive in fifteen days.
After seeing the news, Fang Yun smiled slightly, and one could almost see the King of Chu’s expression as if he had eaten a fly.
In the history of Confucius' literary world, the shortest time taken to investigate a university scholar was three years and six months. As a result, he was found not guilty by the Confucian Hall. Then the university scholar of Yan State went to Zhou Dynasty with his family and defected to Qin State a year later.
Fang Yun believed that the officials sent by various countries to serve as witnesses might not necessarily be able to accomplish great things, but their ability to stir up big things was definitely top-notch.
Fang Yun had never had the habit of sitting still and waiting for death. That night, he asked Zhang Qingfeng to post an article on the discussion board. On the surface, Zhang Qingfeng expressed his feelings about the battle of the five barbarians, but the focus was on what Hu Mu had said, implying that the King of Chu cooperated with the barbarians in order to kill Zhang Longxiang.
As soon as Zhang Qingfeng's article came out, the literary world was in an uproar. After someone sent the article to Shengyuan Continent, it also caused quite a stir.
The scholars from the Qing, Gu and Lei families, led by the Zong family, launched a frenzied attack on the King of Chu. Some great Confucian scholars even rebuked the King of Chu with righteous words, and even said that if Zhang Longxiang died, they would sneak into the world of Confucius and make the King of Chu's blood splatter within five steps.
Seeing that the Za family and the Lei family supported him so much, Fang Yun specially posted an article on the Confucius Literary Circle to express his gratitude and attached a poem to express his current feelings.
Long night.
Accustomed to spending the spring nights long, my son and wife are young and my hair is turning gray.
In the dream, I vaguely see my mother’s tears and the king’s flag changing on the city wall.
I can't bear to see my friends become new ghosts, so I angrily look for poems among the swords.
After reciting the poem, I lowered my brows and had no place to write; the moonlight shone on my black clothes like water.
As soon as this poem was published, there were voices of sorrow under the articles discussing the list.
"The sadness and indignation in this poem is far less than 'The flowers shed tears when feeling the time, and the birds startle the heart when they are separated', and even less than 'One general's success is the result of the sacrifice of thousands of soldiers'. Just looking at the surface meaning of the poem, it has quite some charm."
"The surface meaning of this poem is meaningful, but it is also ordinary. The poet is used to spending long, sleepless nights in spring. Thinking of his deceased wife and young son, he found that he had white hair on his temples. When he fell asleep, he seemed to see his mother's tears, and the flags of the human and barbarian tribes kept changing on the city wall. How could he watch the soldiers of the Pearl River Army being killed without doing anything? So he woke up from his dream and angrily prepared to write a poem to criticize them, knowing that he would be suppressed by the powerful like a knife. However, after reciting the poem in memory of his old friend, he found that this poem was destined to be banned, and he could only stare blankly at the watery moonlight shining on his black clothes."
"If we ignore the deep poetic meaning and only look at the simple verses, this poem is really full of beautiful lines. The line 'accustomed to long nights in spring' carries endless melancholy, which makes people hum it repeatedly after reading it, and it is quite artistic."
"'In my dream I vaguely remember my loving mother's tears, and the king's flags on the city walls' are also excellent, but my favorite is 'After reciting the poem, I lowered my brows and had no place to write, and the moonlight shone on my black clothes like water'. Simple plain description is more powerful than any exaggeration, and it touches the soul directly."
"This poem cannot be ignored for its deep poetic meaning, otherwise it will be impossible to read it. Zhang Longxiang was a Hanlin before, and he wore a white and black plum robe. Now he is a university scholar, so he should not have received the university scholar robe given by the Great Confucian Hall. Even if he wore it, it would be a blue robe. Ziyi is black, so is he wearing a juren robe? How can we interpret it just by understanding it literally? Obviously not. But why did Zhang Mingzhou write about Ziyi? Did the poet make a mistake? No, it's because the clothes he wears are stained black by the long night! So, what is the long night?"
"It is normal to write poetry in the long night. Poetry should not be judged superficially, and it is even more forbidden to over-interpret it. However, the first sentence of this poem, 'Used to long nights in spring', who has not thought of Zhang Longxiang's recent experience after reading it? A 'usual' heart is full of sadness, and it is like this on a beautiful spring day, which is even more sad! Why can the night hurt people? It's all because of the long night of the King of Chu!"
The sentence “Why can the night hurt people? It’s because the King of Chu made the night long” quickly spread on the discussion list along with the poem “Long Night”.
After a night, Fang Yun got a tip that the King of Chu had smashed another table.
.(To be continued.)