"The brutal rule of the King of Chu" became the hottest topic in literary circles everywhere. Outside the Great Zhou Academy in the Zhou capital, some students even collectively painted their clothes with thick ink to protest against the dark rule of the King of Chu.
When the news reached Shengyuan Continent, many people wrote articles to criticize it. Everyone knew that the scholars in the Confucius Literature World were weak, but he was able to kill five barbarian kings alone. If he were placed in Shengyuan Continent, he should be stronger than an ordinary university scholar. Such a talented and meritorious person should not be treated like that by the King of Chu.
To the King of Chu, the criticisms from the various countries in the Confucian literary world were not a big deal, but the criticisms from the Shengyuan Continent were a huge pressure.
No matter how powerful the Confucius literary world is, it is still one level lower than the Shengyuan Continent.
Scholars from various countries began to take advantage of the opportunity to stir up trouble, constantly posting the remarks of some famous scholars from Shengyuan Continent to the discussion board of Confucius' literary circle.
At the beginning, the King of Chu and some officials wanted to launch the most rigorous investigation into Fang Yun, but after a few days, due to the pressure of protection, the King of Chu and the officials did not mention the matter in the court meeting, but still decided to send people to Zhucheng, expressing their willingness to accept the supervision of the Great Confucian Hall and thoroughly investigate the whole ins and outs of the whole matter.
The King of Chu and his officials did not mention the matter, and the number of people discussing it on the discussion board gradually decreased, but the poem "The Long Night" continued to be recited.
Most of the previous poems were too sad and indignant, and did not conform to the Confucian doctrine of the mean. This poem, apart from the word "anger", does not use any fierce words or sentences. Whether it is "accustomed to spending the spring nights in the long nights" or "I vaguely see the tears of my loving mother in my dreams" or "The moonlight shines on the black clothes like water", there is that kind of faint melancholy lingering on the surface, pressing the deepest anger on the paper with words.
While this poem was highly praised, the evaluation of the King of Chu by scholars in the Confucian literary world became lower.
As long as Zhang Longxiang was not identified as a traitor, scholars would be closer to him rather than a high and mighty king.
On April 17th, a team of supervisors from various countries, led by the Hanlin of the Hall of Great Confucianism, arrived in Zhucheng. There were as many as 200 people. They entered the city together with the Chu officials who had been waiting outside Zhucheng for many days to launch a comprehensive investigation into the War of the Five Barbarians and the death of Lumenhou.
Fang Yun used the excuse of military training to prohibit officials from advancing during the day and from investigating any generals during the day, so they could only wait outside the South City during the day, and only talked to the people of the Pearl River Army one after another until night.
Overseen by people from the Hall of Great Confucian Scholars, the investigation process was extremely strict and progress was very slow.
After staying in Zhucheng for a full half month, they began to head towards Lianshan Pass to investigate the remaining generals.
During the investigation by the King of Chu's special envoy, Fang Yun was not idle. He intensified troop training during the day. The intensity of the Pearl River Army's training far exceeded that of any team in the Confucius and Wen world, and was catching up with the strongest army in ancient places such as Liangjie Mountain.
Those strong scholars can bear it, but ordinary soldiers cannot. If any army in the literary world were to conduct such exercises, it would inevitably cause a mutiny. However, Fang Yun had a large amount of silver. While strengthening the training, he also continuously improved the soldiers' food and increased their pay. Then he used competition rankings to motivate each camp and achieved good results.
At night, Fang Yun continued to consolidate his realm and currently focused his energy on "Ancient Demon History". The first part of "Ancient Demon History", "Dragon Slaying Era", has completed three volumes, and there are still seven volumes to be completed.
At present, Fang Yun has divided the "History of Ancient Monsters" into four parts. The first part, "Dragon Slaying Era", is the process of the ancient monsters and the dragon clan fighting for supremacy, starting from the rebellion of the evil dragon of the prison and ending with the capture of Dragon City by the ancestor emperor Wanhuang, Xiong'an and others, recording the magnificent war between the ancient monsters and the dragon clan.
The second part is "Lord of All Realms", which mainly records how the ancient demon clan opened up all realms in the early stage after defeating the dragon clan, and how they fell into internal strife in the later stage.
The third part is "The Rise of the Demons", which focuses on the struggle between the demon clan's ancestor god Luanmang and the last ancient demon emperor Siqiong, until the demons achieve the final victory and end with the exile of the ancient demons to the mountains.
Fang Yun was unsure about the name of the fourth part. Should it be "The Ancient Demon Returns" or "Sleeping on a Straw and Tasting Gall"? This will have to be decided in the future, so Fang Yun does not plan to write a title. The content of this part mainly records the experiences of the ancient demon over the years, and it cannot be concluded at present.
Since the history of ancient monsters is of great significance to human beings' research on ancient monsters and the history of all worlds, Fang Yun plans to continue writing other works after finishing the first part "Dragon Slaying Age".
Writing a book is both boring and interesting, but "History of Ancient Monsters" is of great significance. It takes talent to read the ancient monster heritage, and it also takes talent to put the ancient monster history into words. In this process, Fang Yun also needs to understand the history he is writing. If he does not have a deep understanding of this part of history, then even if he finishes writing this "History of Ancient Monsters", he will not gain much historical power.
During these days, Fang Yun immersed himself in the creation of "History of Ancient Demons".
It was not until June that the investigation by the special envoy of the King of Chu was basically completed, and all the evidence obtained showed that under the circumstances, Zhang Longxiang had done his best to kill the five barbarian kings, and it was indeed difficult to save Lu Menhou.
However, the King of Chu's special envoy also believed that Zhang Longxiang deliberately concealed his strength, his reasons for killing Wei Changxian were not sufficient, and he did not fulfill his responsibilities as Marquis of Zhujiang.
The Confucian Hall accepted the findings and left.
On the third day after the special envoy returned to Jingzhou, the King of Chu issued a royal decree, first greatly praising Zhang Longxiang for his achievement in killing five barbarian kings and capturing Lianshan Pass. However, he changed his tone and believed that Zhang Longxiang had made a huge mistake, causing Lumen Hou to fight alone and killing his subordinates indiscriminately. Therefore, his merits and demerits offset each other, and he would not give him any official title or financial rewards.
As soon as the king's order was issued, the discussion board in the literary world of Confucius became lively again. Except for a few scholars who claimed to be rational, most of the scholars attacked and ridiculed the King of Chu mercilessly.
However, no matter how these people cursed, they could not change the king's order.
The King of Chu's order angered the soldiers of the Zhujiang Army, and even most of the people in Zhucheng began to curse the King of Chu for being unfair.
In the eyes of most people, the status of a Grand Secretary is no worse than that of a king, and in many aspects it is even better.
Under the "promotion" of the King of Chu, Fang Yun's integration of the Pearl River Army went exceptionally smoothly. The new recruits were still a little short, but the veterans who had witnessed Fang Yun killing five barbarian kings in a row were now full of admiration for Fang Yun.
Fang Yun accelerated the training of his troops and waited patiently.
After the investigation, the King of Chu once again ordered Fang Yun to go to Jingzhou, but Fang Yun once again refused.
This refusal caused dissatisfaction among officials in the court and the public, and many imperial censors wrote to impeach Fang Yun.
However, the title of Marquis of Zhujiang was a hereditary title in the State of Chu, and the title had to be conferred by the Emperor of Zhou. Unless he committed a serious crime such as treason or high treason, the King of Chu had no right to deprive the Marquis of Zhujiang of his power.
The position of Marquis of Zhujiang was to lead the Zhujiang Army to garrison Zhucheng and fight against the barbarians. It was normal for him not to return to Jingzhou on the grounds that the war was tense. There were too many border generals who did this throughout the dynasties.
The years passed silently, and as July approached, the Battle of Bi Can in Liangjie Mountain began, fighting day and night, with heavy casualties among the human race. An official document from the Holy Academy arrived at Kongshengwenjie, requesting the seven nations to send troops to aid Liangjie Mountain once again.
On the second day of July, the King of Chu issued an order, commanding the Zhujiang Army and the Qishan Army to jointly attack Liangjie Mountain, with Qishan Marquis Gou Bao as the marshal of the two armies.
.(To be continued.)