Fang Yun never dreamed that after reading thousands of books, he would be able to enter the Spring and Autumn world and watch the magnificent history of more than two hundred years. A smile appeared on his face involuntarily.
Fang Yun felt very tired and wanted to fall asleep, but as soon as he closed his eyes, chaotic historical scenes appeared before his eyes.
In the temple of Lu State, Cao Gui spoke eloquently to Duke Zhuang of Lu, and then followed Duke Zhuang of Lu to fight against the State of Qi. He defeated the State of Qi with the strategy of "making the first attack with great strength, the second with weaker force, and the third with more exhaustion", and became famous in one battle.
In the State of Wu, Wu Zixu was in charge of politics and Sun Tzu was in charge of the army. Sun Tzu used the method of "if they go out, we return; if they return, we go out" to consume the State of Chu for six years. After six years, the State of Wu won five battles in a row and almost destroyed the State of Chu.
Xiaobai, a simple name. Fang Yun watched him rise step by step from a prince to the throne of king and become Duke Huan of Qi. With the assistance of Guan Zhong, a famous prime minister in the Spring and Autumn Period, he became the leader of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period and became famous through the ages.
Prince Chong'er fled all the way, and his experience was more tortuous than that of Duke Huan of Qi. He first married the daughter of Duke Huan of Qi, the leader of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period, and then was given five daughters of the royal family by Duke Mu of Qin, one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period. One of them was even the wife of Duke Huai of Jin, who was actually Chong'er's nephew.
With the support of Duke Mu of Qin, Prince Chong'er returned to Jin and officially succeeded to the throne as Duke Wen of Jin after 20 years of exile, and then killed his nephew Duke Huai of Jin. Later, Duke Wen of Jin fought against the State of Chu, kept his promise and won the Battle of Chengpu with the strategy of "retreating three times", establishing his position as one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period.
Whenever Fang Yun read about the deeds of Duke Wen of Jin, only four words came to his mind: winner in life.
When Duke Wen of Jin fled, he was poor and hungry. The famous minister Jie Zitui cut off his flesh to offer to the king. After Duke Wen of Jin ascended the throne, he rewarded all the ministers, but not Jie Zitui, the meritorious minister. As a result, the ministers competed for rewards, and only Jie Zitui retired to Mianshan. Later, Duke Wen of Jin regretted it and went to look for Jie Zitui out of the mountain. Because the mountain was densely forested and could not be found, he listened to the advice of a villain and ordered people to set fire to the mountain from three sides to force Jie Zitui to go down the mountain, but Jie Zitui was burned to death. In order to commemorate Jie Zitui, the Cold Food Festival was established, and no fire was lit on that day.
Fang Yun had no feelings when reading this story before, but this time when he saw Duke Wen of Jin burning Mianshan Mountain with his own eyes, he would never think that Duke Wen of Jin would be so stupid as to forget the great contribution of Jie Zitui in cutting off his flesh to offer to the king and then burn the mountain to force people to leave. He only thought of eight words: the rabbit dies and the dog is cooked. Killing people to silence them.
Another one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period, King Zhuang of Chu, succeeded to the throne during a turbulent period. At that time, the ministers of Chu were strong while the king was weak. When King Zhuang of Chu was in the most dangerous time, he was even captured by the ministers who were plotting rebellion, but was later successfully rescued by the doctors of Chu.
After years of silence, King Zhuang of Chu seized the opportunity to dominate the Central Plains.
…
The major events of more than 200 years recorded in the Spring and Autumn Annals passed by Fang Yun one by one. Every time he saw a picture, Fang Yun felt that he had a deeper understanding of history and could vaguely comprehend the principles in it, such as benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, trustworthiness, loyalty, courage, etc.
No teacher told Fang Yun where benevolence is, who has righteousness, and where to keep propriety, but Fang Yun understood. Everyone is between benevolence, righteousness and propriety, and everything is within the holy way.
You can only experience it yourself.
Fang Yun seemed to have attained enlightenment and kept smiling happily.
Fang Yun slowly recalled the history recorded in the "Spring and Autumn Annals" and slowly absorbed the true rewards of the Ten Kingdoms Competition.
Before he knew it, Fang Yun fell into a deep sleep.
Early the next morning, when it was bright, eight scholars dressed in white and sword-wielding robes stood outside Fang Yun Gate.
"It's already 7am. Why hasn't Fang Yun gotten up yet? According to the military hours, it's seven in the morning. If someone doesn't get up, he would have been punished by military law, with at least forty strokes of the cane!"
"Fang Yun was too tired yesterday, so it doesn't hurt for him to rest for a while. Anyway, there are still quarter of an hour before the official competition, so we still have time to wait another quarter of an hour. Huh? Where's Yan Zewei?" Qiao Juze looked around.
"I seemed to hear someone visiting him last night. It should be his friend in Kongcheng." You Nian said.
A dark cloud flashed across Qiao Juze's eyes, and he said, "Let's go and take a look at Yan Zewei's bedroom!"
The other Jinshi scholars immediately noticed that Qiao Juze's tone was strange and hurried to follow him.
Qiao Juze didn't even knock on the door. He used his sharp tongue to break the bolts and break the doors. Finally, he found Yan Zewei's bed was tidy and empty.
Eight people stood in Yan Zewei's bedroom in silence.
Qiao Juze said: "I will send him an urgent letter first to find out the situation!"
Qiao Juze did what he said, and everyone waited silently.
After a long while, Qiao Juze said in a cold voice: "He hasn't returned yet. He is either imprisoned or his official seal has been taken away. He can't receive the urgent letter! I will report to the president of the academy immediately! You go to Fang Yun's gate and wait for him in half an hour!"
After Qiao Juze finished speaking, he strode out, and the rest of the people walked out slowly. All of them looked anxious, and a few of them had fire in their eyes and wanted to curse.
"Despicable! No need to think too much, it must be the method used by the people of Qing! They dare not use force, they must have bribed Yan Zewei's friends, asked Yan Zewei to go out, and used the wine from the demon world to get him drunk, which would make him sleep for a whole day and night! This kind of thing has happened to other literary competitions before. I just didn't expect it to happen to us." You Nian was furious.
"The key is that this method does not hurt anyone and is not illegal. If it is traced back, the punishment cannot be too severe. The time of the Ten Nations Competition will not be changed because of this. If we cannot find Yan Zewei within two quarters of an hour, this competition will be over."
Chen Lile glanced at Cui Wang and said, "We miscalculated. We thought that if they really wanted to take action, they would target Cui Wang, who was the last to enter the upper residence, and kept him under strict surveillance. Who knew that they would actually find Yan Zewei."
"What should we do then?" Cui Wang asked.
"What else can we do? Just wait to lose. Even if third place is worse than ours, we can still be ninth in the end, which is at least a step forward from last year."
"We can lose, but I am unwilling to lose in this way!" Zhang Chengyu said gritting his teeth.
Gong Yangyu clenched his fists tightly and said, "After today's competition, I will fight with the Qing Kingdom's Jinshi! I may not win, but I will let them know that if they do such a thing, they need to pay the price!"
"Alas... Since Brother Gongyang wants to go, I will go with you. I am not good at other things, but I am not afraid of the top scholar of Qing Kingdom in literary battles!" Zhang Chengyu said.
"This is an act to protect the reputation of Jingguo, and I will also participate." Ye Shoumo said.
Several others joined in one after another, but two of them did not respond.
Not long after the seven of them arrived at Fang Yun's door, the door opened and Fang Yun, wearing white casual clothes, said, "Come in, I'll wash up and change my clothes first... What happened?"
The sleepiness on Fang Yun's face quickly disappeared, and he looked at the seven people carefully.
"Yan Zewei went out privately last night and has not returned yet. I'm afraid he was held back by foreigners using underhanded tactics." You Nian said.
Fang Yun subconsciously glanced at Cui Wang, but he didn't expect that the one in trouble was not the youngest Cui Wang, but the very mature Yan Zewei. Yan Zewei was the favorite student of the left prime minister Liu Shan, who was in collusion with Qing State, and Qing State's chips were lower than Jing State. Even if You Nian only said "another country", Fang Yun knew that this was most likely done by Qing State.
Fang Yun took a deep breath, glanced at the seven people, and said, "Then what should we do? What does the dean say?"
Gong Yangyu said: "Brother Qiao has already gone to see the Grand Secretary of the Academy. This time, the Wantihai Tour is bound to fail, so a few of us have already discussed that after the competition, we will go to the top scholar of Qing State to compete in writing!"
Fang Yun nodded and said, "If we lose to Qing Kingdom in this competition, I will also participate in the literary competition! I, Fang Yun, can afford to lose, but I cannot afford to be humiliated!"
"Great!" Everyone was excited.
"Yes, we, the students of Jing Country, can afford to lose, but we cannot afford to be humiliated!"
You Nian nodded and said, "Although we didn't see it with our own eyes, we have all heard about your literary battle in Xizhou. Your proposal can be sealed with 'Only Juren are allowed to compete in poetry' or 'Only Jinshi are allowed to compete in poetry'. Unless they are Jinshi with star rank, any Jinshi has at most a 50% chance of winning against you! Those people in Qing Country are not descendants of the main families of aristocratic families, and like us, they have no star rank, so your chance of winning is very high!"
"Fang Yun can even defeat top Jinshi like Xun Long, so he is not afraid of them at all! You are a Juren, and the party with lower literary rank should propose to block them first. There is no way they can defeat you!" There was a hint of joy in Cui Wang's eyes.
"That's exactly what I meant!" Fang Yun said.
"But... I still feel unwilling. Fang Yun, you will probably become a student of the Holy Academy before the competition next year. This is probably the only chance for my Jing country to enter the top eight. However, it was ruined by the despicable means of the Qing people!" Chen Lile's eyes were red.
The others sighed softly. Jing State finally had such an opportunity. Even if it failed in the end, it could let the people of Jing State know that Jing State had a chance to defeat Qing State!
But now even the last bit of chance no longer exists.
"Forget it. Our chances of beating Qing in the third game aren't great anyway. It'll be good enough if we can come in ninth. There's no need to fight Qing just for the sake of one breath." Ke Yuan said softly.
Fang Yun said slowly: "Sometimes if you can't fight for a breath, your path to the holy way will be cut off."
"I can't swallow this!" Chen Lile said.
Fang Yunyun put on his clothes, put the few snacks and fruits on the table into the drinking water, and walked out while saying: "Let's go to the venue first. Maybe Yan Zewei can enter before the big competition."
"Even if he can get in, the hangover will affect his mind, and I'm afraid he will get a low score because he answered too few questions." Qiao Juze walked in from outside.
"What does Grand Secretary Guo say?" Cui Wang asked.
"He has gone to negotiate with the Kong family, asking them to find out where Yan Zewei is. But Kong City was built by the sage himself, and it is of great significance. If we want to use the power of Kong City to search, it will take some time to ask for instructions. Grand Scholar Guo said that we'd better be mentally prepared. Time is too tight, and it will be difficult to find Yan Zewei before the third game starts."
Fang Yun nodded. Kongcheng was built according to King Wen's Eight Trigrams and was connected to the Holy Academy. Although its power had never been revealed, even the demons could guess that Kongcheng and the Holy Academy both had unknown secrets.
Qiao Juze gritted his teeth and said, "This matter will never end here. Severe punishment must be given, and revenge must be launched on those involved! As for the mastermind behind the scenes, once it is verified, no matter which country it is, if we can fight with words that would be the best, if not, we will go all out with words!"
"Let's go. We'll talk about everything after the Ten Nations Competition." Fang Yun said.
"Let's go!" Everyone followed Fang Yun to the competition venue. (To be continued...)