The capital city at dusk, with the night lights not yet on, looks a bit desolate.
The afterglow slowly faded on the horizon, illuminating a huge skyship.
Fang Yun and other court officials stood under the Kongxinglou ship, looking at the figures of the great scholars on board.
The sky-walking ship slowly took off, flew farther and farther, and finally disappeared at the end of the sky.
Some Jing State officials stared into the distance in a trance, feeling extremely lost.
The Fa family left after all.
Fang turned around and walked slowly towards the city gate. Seeing that Fang could not get on the carriage, the officials did not dare to act rashly and followed behind him silently.
After the Holy Way Literary Meeting, all the hidden players in the court were eliminated.
Those who remain in the court now are either Fang Yun’s men or have given up opposing Fang Yun.
Only the Legalist scholars present could feel that Fang Yun was like a huge furnace, as if burning the heaven and earth, making it difficult for them to get close.
The Holy Way Dharma Crown and the Holy Way Dharma Code still remain in Fang Yunwen Palace.
Fang Yun walked very slowly, and no one seemed impatient.
The officials looked at Fang Yun's back and suddenly felt that the figure looked a little old. He seemed more stable than before, but also more lonely.
Everyone knows that the most difficult period for Jingguo is about to come.
The scholars of the Miscellaneous School have already made it clear on the discussion board that they no longer care whether Fang Yunjiao submits the Civil Service Examination papers or not, because the Miscellaneous School has already joined forces with the Qing State, Gu State and Jia State to immediately launch the Civil Service Examination.
As for other countries, except Wu State, which has long been learning from Jing State, the rest are waiting and watching. At least for now, they do not want to be exposed.
The fact that Jiaguo turned to the Za family was like a bolt from the blue to the people of Jingguo. Many people suspected that this had an unclear relationship with the Lei family of Jiaguo.
After reaching the city gate, Fang Yun got on the carriage and returned to the Left Prime Minister's Pavilion to continue handling government affairs.
The originally bustling capital city suddenly became quiet as a large number of scholars from various countries left.
At eight o'clock in the evening, the eunuchs of the palace entered the Zuo Xiang Pavilion on time and invited Fang Yun to the palace to teach Jingjun Zhao Yuan.
Fang Yun’s reply was to give Zhao Yuan a day off and check his homework tomorrow night.
The eunuch took the order and left.
When the Queen Mother received the news, she sat by the window, looking at the sparse stars with a worried look on her face.
However, Zhao Yuan, having got leave from his teacher, had a great time playing with the palace maids and eunuchs in the yard.
The entire cabinet of officials did not leave.
Although there were no orders, everyone stayed in the cabinet in an orderly manner, handling various government affairs, busying around.
No one seemed to notice that it was already night.
On the discussion board, the topic of the Holy Dao Literary Society gradually cooled down, and rumors spread, and everyone believed that the Miscellaneous School would take action against the Jing Kingdom.
Everyone knows that the Holy Dao Wenhui has strengthened the determination of the Miscellaneous School to wipe out the Jing Kingdom.
Jingguo's continued growth has become the biggest stumbling block for the Miscellaneous Family.
In the brightly lit Zuo Xiang Pavilion, the officials did not dare to disturb Fang Yun, because even if they knocked on the door, Fang Yun would not open it.
In the study, the light of the night pearl was soft and bright. Fang Yun sat upright in the armchair with a stack of white papers on the table in front of him.
The inkstone turtle crawled up and down on the table, twisting its butt from time to time, always showing a disdainful look, complaining about this and that.
The ink girl quietly stayed in the ink, half of her face exposed, her little mouth blowing bubbles in the ink, staring at Fang Yun intently.
Misty Butterfly gained great benefits in the Holy Burial Valley and has turned into a cocoon of light in the Wen Palace. It is unknown when it will break out of the cocoon.
The night went from light to dark.
Fang Yun sat at the table all the time, occasionally sending and receiving some letters.
As the night grew from dark to light, Fang Yun's frequency of sending and receiving letters increased.
Jing State, Ding County.
Twenty miles away from this small town is Qing Kingdom.
As the border between the two countries, Ding County gradually prospered due to trade.
When the sky turned from dark to dark blue, a large and very faint shadow came rapidly from the direction of Qing Kingdom.
Only if the Grand Secretary carefully observed could he see clearly that it was an army concealed by the art of war.
With the support of military tactics and war poems, a full 200,000-strong army approached Ding County at a speed several times faster than that of a normal person running at full speed.
High in the sky, there are two huge sky-traveling ships, which are filled with various mechanisms and war supplies.
On the Kongxinglou ship, in addition to various mechanisms and supplies, there are also many scholars.
There were more than thirty grand secretaries, more than fifty Hanlin scholars, more than five hundred Jinshi scholars, and the number of candidates elected was in tens of thousands.
The strength of this army has surpassed any other army in Liangjie Mountain.
As early as the first battle between the two worlds, the Holy Academy of the human race had announced the most stringent decree that countries were not allowed to use great scholars to participate in the human civil war. Otherwise, there would be at least five more great scholars on the Skywalker ship.
It was not until the army arrived three miles away from Ding County that the holy temple in Ding County issued a warning.
Afterwards, the anxious voice of County Magistrate Yang Chutao was heard throughout Ding County.
"Everyone in Ding County, listen up! The Qing army is approaching and is about to attack the city. All officials and soldiers, go to the east of the city immediately, without delay! If the people in the city do not want to participate in the war, they can escape from the west gate. If they are willing to live and die with Ding County, gather in the east of the city. Once we win, we will reward those who help us! Anyone who tries to create chaos will be killed without mercy!"
Lights were continuously lit in tens of thousands of households in Ding County, and the whole city was in chaos. Some people fled to the west of the city with the most valuable things in their homes, some stayed at home, at a loss, and some took their farm tools and walked towards the east of the city.
The number of people heading to the east of the city was less than one-tenth of the number of people who fled.
No matter what the county's policemen and soldiers thought, they had no choice but to head to the east of the city, for they were well aware of the consequences of running away now.
Soon, people from all over the county arrived at the east of the city. All the scholars who were willing to join the war stood on the city wall, looking ahead, their scalps tingling.
The 200,000-strong Qing army had stopped three miles away. Instead of attacking immediately, they were quickly moving the siege equipment off the Skywalker ship.
With the efforts of the workers and scholars, they could assemble a total of fifty sets of siege equipment in a quarter of an hour at most, which could break through the city wall of Ding County within a short period of time. If Qing Kingdom wanted, they could even quickly raze the entire Ding County to the ground.
However, what made the scholars in Ding County most despair was not the siege weapons, but the tens of thousands of scholars on the empty ships.
What will happen next will not be a battle but a crushing defeat. It will be easier for the Qing army to capture Ding County than to crush an ant.
Xi Shi, the Grand Commander of Fengzhou in Qing State, rode on a white dragon horse with armor on it. He looked at the many officials of Ding County on the city wall, smiled indifferently, and said, "Several years ago, you all served in the same court as me. I have always cherished our friendship and do not want to kill more people. As long as you surrender the city, I will not kill anyone. If you wish to stay, your rank will be promoted three levels! If you wish to leave, I will not stop you."
County Magistrate Yang Chutao said firmly: "Thank you, Mr. Xi, but since Xiangzhou has returned to Jing State, we are officials of Jing State in life and souls of Jing State in death. There is no need to say more when two armies are fighting, but now is the second battle of Liangjie Mountain, the monsters and barbarians are eyeing them covetously, and Qing State is provoking the war. Aren't you afraid of being criticized by scholars all over the world?"
Xi Shi said: "Jing Jun is unjust, Fang Ze is usurping power. This general responded to the request of some officials of Jing State and saved Jing State from danger. How can I talk about provoking a war?"