Fang Yun smiled and said, "How excellent are the writers and poets of all ages? How dare I say that I am superior to them? It's nothing more than a new literary gathering."
The people from Xiangzhou present were immediately extremely disappointed, but if they thought about it carefully, it would be too abrupt for Fang Yun to suppress Yellow Crane Tower as soon as he arrived.
Dong Wencong said loudly: "There is still a long way to go. As long as Fang Xusheng stays in Xiangzhou, are you still worried that the Military Review Tower will not be as good as the Yellow Crane Tower?"
When the people in Xiangzhou around heard this, they all felt relieved and smiles appeared on their faces again.
Fang Yun shook his head helplessly and walked up the stairs to the city wall.
On the city wall, lanterns were hung high and banquets were set out. Many officials and scholars stood up, some called themselves Fang Xusheng, some called themselves Prince Ji, and some called themselves the Governor-General.
Fang Yun glanced around and walked towards the north side with a smile, where two tables of Jiangzhou officials were standing.
"Everyone, long time no see!" Fang Yun bowed with a smile.
Those officials bowed to Fang Yun one after another.
Li Wenying, the head of Jiangzhou officials, became a great scholar and went out to hone his skills and never returned. Except for Zhou Yuanjun, Jiangzhou officials were replaced many times.
Nowadays, the governor of Jiangzhou is Hanlin Chen Xibi, and the governor of the province is Hanlin Sai Zhixue who was just transferred from Mizhou. In addition to these two important officials, there are some fourth- or fifth-rank officials, who are either chief ministers, prefects, or governors, and most of them are old acquaintances.
Feng Zimo, the former Lord of Yuhai City, was transferred to be the prefect and was in charge of a region.
Several of them had delivered visiting cards for Fang and had long been classified as Fang's officials by Zuo Xiang's party.
Fang Yun chatted privately with these old friends from Jiangzhou for a while, then talked with other major officials from Xiangzhou one by one, and finally met with the old scholars from Xiangzhou.
The old scholars in Xiangzhou include Jinshi, Hanlin and Daxueshi. They are either too old or just want to enjoy their old age. When the governor Dong Wencong arrived, he was not able to invite many old scholars. Today, many people come uninvited.
These old scholars have a huge influence on Xiangzhou, and their disciples and descendants are spread all over Xiangzhou. If they join forces, their power will be greater than that of the governor Dong Wencong.
Most of the old people smiled when they saw Fang Yun and were willing to talk to him more. Some even wanted to help Fang Yun find a concubine. Only a few people had cold expressions.
In addition, there were some outstanding young scholars from Xiangzhou, and Fang Yun also received them cordially.
Before the literary gathering began, the atmosphere became very heated, completely different from the tense atmosphere when welcoming Fang Yun before.
The colorful sedan chair was carried by everyone. Even those officials who opposed Jing State congratulated Fang Yun sincerely at this moment, but after today, it would be a different matter.
Soon, Fang Yun sat in the main seat, and the governor Dong Wencong stood at the front of the banquet, presiding over the literary meeting.
Dong Wencong first spoke eloquently, welcoming Fang Yun on behalf of all the people in Xiangzhou. Then, fireworks were seen flying all around Baling City, turning Baling into a city that never sleeps.
There were cheers everywhere in Baling City.
Afterwards, Dong Wencong listed Fang Yun’s achievements.
Normally, when a new official takes office, he would only give a dozen sentences to list his achievements, but Dong Wencong would never stop once he started. From being a student, a scholar, a juren, a jinshi, a Hanlin, to a grand scholar, his achievements were countless.
When Dong Wencong was halfway through his speech, an official smiled and whispered: "Those who know it are listing the achievements of a governor-general, while those who don't know it may think it is listing the achievements of all the governors-general of a country."
The people nearby nodded slightly, and then all looked at Fang Yun with envy.
It is said that the pursuit of scholars is to leave their names in history after their death. Now that Fang Yun is still alive, he has already achieved great achievements that will make his name known to future generations.
Because of the thundering words when he listed his achievements, the whole Baling City was boiling from the first sentence, and people from all over the city cheered loudly and talked about it.
Fang Yun’s popularity in Baling City skyrocketed at an incredible rate.
When others were counting their achievements, the wine was still warm, but now when we are counting Fang Yun’s achievements, all the dishes at the banquet have gone cold.
The early autumn evening breeze swept across the Reviewing Army Tower, bringing the comfort of autumn to the literary gathering.
After that, the normal process of the new literary gathering began. After Fang Yun gave his speech, everyone started to eat and drink.
After eating for half an hour, Fang Yun began to toast to each table.
The atmosphere at the scene was very lively. Fang Yun had a high status but was young, so the scholars made a rule that he was not allowed to use any power such as talent or literary courage to drive away drunkenness. Then they began to toast, but in fact they were forcing Fang Yun to drink.
Since no one was allowed to use external force to drive away the drunkenness, a few people got drunk while drinking, and some officials began to say all kinds of drunken words.
“Fang… Fang Xusheng… As an official of Xiangzhou, I may… may oppose you, but as a scholar, I bow down to you! Do you know what it means to bow down to someone? I’ll do it to you right now!” The drunk official of Xiangzhou was about to kneel down and kowtow on the spot, but Fang Yun and the people next to him hurriedly pulled him back and finally made him give up after some persuasion.
"Ah, Fang Xusheng's poetry is so good! If he could write a new poem and give it to me, I would immediately become Prince Ji's disciple and the Governor's lackey!"
"Nonsense! Fang Xusheng can bribe the Grand Secretary with a piece of poetry, but he can't bribe you, a Jinshi?"
"Grand Scholar? You guys underestimate Fang Xusheng too much. Do you believe me when I say he can bribe a great scholar? Do you believe me when I say he can bribe a semi-saint?"
“It’s possible!”
Although most officials were drunk, they remained sober and just spoke more casually than usual.
When everyone had almost finished drinking, Dong Wencong blushed and said, "Stop drinking! Stop! Little guys from Baling, come and offer your poems! I'm telling you in advance that Fang Xusheng is not going to go all out in writing poems today. If you can surpass Xusheng in writing, this may be your only chance in this life! Seize it!"
After July it is autumn, so the writing is required to have autumn mood and autumn scenery, and there is no restriction on rhyme.
After a while, young scholars from Xiangzhou came forward one after another to write poems.
The young scholars were a little nervous, after all, they were facing a great saint.
In the end, a total of thirty people came on stage to present poems, but only one person's talent was higher than one foot and reached the level of being out of the county.
The Xiangzhou officials present were very happy. If they were not even allowed to leave the county, everyone would probably be very disappointed.
The person who wrote the poem about leaving the county was chosen as the champion. Fang Yun presented the champion with a Jinshi Wenbao, which made the poor scholar so excited that his hands trembled.
The officials present were not surprised, as many of them knew how wealthy Fang Yun's family was.
After a short rest, Dong Wencong stood up and said, "Please invite the Governor to come forward and write a poem!"
Fang Yun stood up with a smile, and then everyone in the audience stood up. Some drunk people cheered loudly, looking very happy.
Fang Yun walked in front of the crowd, holding the ink stick and gently grinding the ink. Before he could pick up the pen, someone suddenly spoke.
"Fang Xusheng, this is a critical moment in the fight for the top spot among the Four Talented Scholars. This poem may very well determine whether you can become the top spot among the Four Talented Scholars. You must not take it lightly!"
Many people looked in surprise at the person who spoke, who was none other than Nie Changju, the director of the Xiangzhou Ministry of Rites.
Many officials looked unhappy.
The internal literary gathering in Xiangzhou was going well, but something unexpected happened at the last minute.
What Nie Changju said was nothing but provocation and could have been ignored, but he deliberately said it at the literary meeting purely to disgust people and make them unhappy.
.(To be continued.)