"What should we do? Lord Feng has always been unpredictable. He might go to the demon world today and come back tomorrow. If Fang Yun is really not dead, he will definitely kill us all." said one person.
"What else can we do? We can only kill Fang Yun to vent our anger! I don't know which semi-saint is so cruel that he is willing to use up the talents of the Holy Temple to attack all the monthly magazines of "Sacred Dao" against us. This "Humble House Inscription" is one of the rare aspirational articles. Our change of course conflicts with the concept of this kind of article. Those who are not dead are lucky."
"As expected of a semi-saint, this time, at least 20% of us will die or become completely demented, and at least 50% of our humanities will be cracked. Fortunately, there are many rare treasures in the demon world that can make up for the cracks in our humanities, but I don't know when it will be our turn."
"I have been responsible for recording the movements of those human geniuses. I know this Fang Yun's matter very well. A few days ago, Fang Yun and the state literary academy scholar class went to Mi County to kill monsters. Logically, they should be returning to Dayuan Prefecture today. We only need to ambush on the road from Mi County to Dayuan Prefecture and kill him."
"Kill him alone or kill them all?"
"Since Lord Feng is angry, he will naturally kill everyone. I will gather everyone immediately, regardless of whether Wen Gong has any problems or not, as long as they can talk about it on paper, everyone must go!"
"The demon-killing team of the scholar class usually only has three or four scholars. Is it necessary to send all of them?"
"You all know Lord Feng's temper. If we don't go all out, we will surely die if Fang Yun escapes. Since the Semi-Saint used "Humble House Inscription" to kill so many rebels, we will naturally take revenge! I will take Lord Feng's order to invite the three Jinshi and all the Juren, and bring two demon commanders and ten demon generals. This is all the strength of Jingcheng Peak. Even if Fang Yun brings the entire Dayuan Prefecture's army, he will surely die."
"The general of Dayuan Prefecture, Chen Xibi, is only a Jinshi, and the rest are Juren and Xiucai, which can't be compared with my Jingcheng Peak. Unless all the officials of Dayuan Prefecture come out together, Fang Yun will definitely die. The only ones to worry about now are Li Wenying and Zhang Poyue."
"Li Wenying and Zhang Poyue are both in Yuhai City, and they are too late to rescue us. Since we have mobilized all the forces of Jingcheng Peak, this battle must be successful!"
"That's settled. The power of the Holy Temple covers nearly twenty miles around the city. We will ambush thirty miles outside Dayuan Mansion and evacuate immediately after killing all the people in the Scholar Class."
"They will probably arrive at Dayuan Prefecture in the afternoon. We should gather our men and set up an ambush in the afternoon! We must fight quickly and decisively!"
Half an hour later, more than a hundred rebel scholars and demons gathered. Among them, three rebel scholars and two demon commanders had the highest status, followed by twenty scholars and ten demon generals. The rest were scholars and demon soldiers, enough to kill all the troops in a prefecture.
Soon, these people left Jingcheng Peak and headed towards the road from Mi County to Dayuan Prefecture.
Half an hour after they left, a demon eagle landed in the inner courtyard of Jingcheng Peak.
A rebellious scholar walked over and took out a piece of paper from the demon eagle's leg, on which was written that a demon turtle from the Jiaolong Palace sneaked into Lujia Town to kill people, and Li Wenying killed it. Then Li Wenying rushed into the Yangtze River for revenge.
"Lujia Town is also in Mi County, but since it was Li Wenying who took action, it should have nothing to do with the scholar class of the State Academy of Literature, so there is no need to inform." The rebel scholar said, and returned to the house to continue recording and organizing the intelligence of the literati in the entire Jing Kingdom.
Lujia Town was not a lively place to begin with. After part of the town was destroyed by the turtle and snake monsters, the entire town was immersed in grief, and almost everyone was in mourning.
Just after eleven o'clock in the morning, a huge convoy of armored ox carts came from the southwest. Some of the people on those armored ox carts were survivors of the fierce battle with the demon turtle, and some were soldiers and officials from Dayuan Prefecture who came to reinforce.
Some of the Class A oxcarts were isolated. Not only were there soldiers who had participated in the battle yesterday, but also personnel from the Holy Court's Penal Court, to prevent these soldiers from talking to outsiders.
Some of the armored ox carts were loaded with the bodies of dead monsters, while others were loaded with living monsters, which were the private soldiers of several Jinshi and Hanlin. There were relatively few Jinshi who had private monster soldiers, but almost everyone who reached the rank of Hanlin or a higher position had private monster soldiers.
In the second armored car of the team sat more than a dozen officials and an old and highly respected Hanlin named Wen Zhenghuan, and Fang Yun was also on it.
The old Hanlin once served as the Minister of Rites. Later, due to differences in ideas with the Left Prime Minister, he resigned and returned home, living out his retirement in the city of Dayuan Prefecture. He would occasionally give guidance to the younger generation and was a close friend of the Governor of Gezhou.
Along the way, Fang Yun spoke very little, just listening to these officials chatting.
There was a total of one Hanlin, eight Jinshi and four Juren in the carriage. Even though these people did not mobilize their talents, Fang Yun could still vaguely feel their talents and vitality.
Because Li Wenying issued a ban, no one talked about what happened yesterday in detail, but just chatted about some ordinary gossip.
However, the governor of Gezhou would glance at Fang Yun from time to time, and occasionally wink at his old friend Wen Zhenghuan, but the old Hanlin always pretended not to see it.
When the governor of Gezhou saw that his old friend couldn't lose face, he had to change the subject, then found an excuse and said with a smile: "Fang Yun, Grand Secretary Li really thinks highly of you. Yesterday, I received a request for help with an official seal and red text, and sent Gao Yuanzheng of the State Academy of Literature, Lord Zheng of Liuyuan County, and Deputy General Xie to reinforce. But not long after, Grand Secretary Li sent me a letter from Yuhai, asking me to personally lead all available people to reinforce, and to bring people from the Criminal Hall with me, to isolate them, and to emphasize that he must bring you back safely. I know this matter is important, and I am afraid that I am too weak to do it perfectly, so I invited Old Wen to come out as well. Old Wen used to be a minister of the dynasty, and he usually has a big air. When he heard that he wanted to help you, he came with me without saying a word."
"Thank you, Lord Ge, and thank you, Hanlin Wen." Fang Yun said respectfully.
Wen Zhenghuan was over seventy years old, but still in good spirits. He smiled and said, "Why are you being polite? I just wanted to go out for a walk to stretch my legs."
Governor Ge said, "Since Grand Secretary Li has issued a gag order, I will not ask any more about what happened yesterday. However, since you are already a scholar before the Emperor, you must be careful in the future. Before the provincial examination, you should not enter the Academy of Literature, lest others find out. On the day of the provincial examination, we will cover up for you, and you will definitely pass the examination. In this way, those rebellious scholars will not know that you are a scholar before the Emperor."
"Thank you, sir." Fang Yun said.
The old Hanlin Wen Zhenghuan said, "Feng Chengjue will do anything to get what he wants. Once you become a juren, you may face assassinations by jinshi and demon commanders. You must be careful."
The governor of Gezhou coughed lightly and said, "Fang Yun, I heard that your manuscript of "Praise of the Humble House" is with Jianmei Gong?"
"Yes." Fang Yun suddenly realized. Even if Li Wenying ordered the governor of Gezhou to come in person, he would not have a reason to bring along the old Hanlin Wen Zhenghuan. He had other intentions, and brought Wen Zhenghuan to show that he valued Fang Yun. His goal was to get the manuscript of "Humble House Inscription".
"If you wait for Mr. Jianmei to finish reading it, can you lend it to me to have a look?"
Fang Yun hesitated and said, "I don't think the "Humble House Inscription" is a treasure, so it's fine to lend it to you. However, there are too many people who want to borrow it, and many of them have asked before you. I don't know who to lend it to first."
Gezhou Mu immediately understood that although Fang Yun's words seemed like a rejection, they actually meant that they were willing to negotiate.
"In that case, I won't force you. It's a pity that my talent is limited. Without "Praise of the Humble House", it would be difficult for me to become a Hanlin. If someone can help me become a Hanlin, I will treat him as a benefactor." Gezhou Mu's face turned red at the end. This was too straightforward.
Some people present despised the behavior of Gezhou Mu, but most people expressed understanding. After all, it was difficult to become a Jinshi, and if one could fight for a chance, it would not be a big deal to ask for help. Once one became a Hanlin, he could be regarded as a high-ranking figure in the Ten Kingdoms, and his status and ability would be greatly improved. Whether for fame and fortune or for the sake of the holy way, it was worth going all out.
There was a brief silence in the car, and Wen Zhenghuan changed the subject, saying, "Since you want to hide your identity as a scholar before the emperor, you cannot participate in this year's Dragon Boat Festival. What a pity. If nothing unexpected happens, my Jing country will be humiliated by Qing country again this year."
"It's just a Dragon Boat Festival. We've lost for so many years, so this year won't make a difference. Fang Yun's safety is more important."
Gezhou Mu said: "Looking at the young students of Jingguo, except Fang Yun, who can compete with the geniuses of other countries? Fang Yun's safety is the most important thing, and those false reputations don't matter."
"That's what I said, but I still can't accept it. I've lost for seventeen years in a row. If I lose another year, it will be eighteen years."
"Qing Country is hateful! My Jing Country is surrounded by monsters and barbarians, so our national strength is naturally being slowly worn away. But Qing Country doesn't know how to help us, but instead adds insult to injury every year. It is truly a shame for the human race!"
"I hope there will be a successor to Chen Sheng." Wen Zhenghuan sighed.
The atmosphere in the carriage was extremely solemn. The biggest problem of Jing State was the lack of successors. If no one could be canonized within five years, once Chen Guanhai died, Jing State would inevitably be annexed by the neighboring Qing State and Wu State.
This huge convoy stopped outside Lujia Town. Fang Yun and all the other students got off the bus and went to visit An Chengcai's family.
Naturally, they did not tell the truth about An Chengcai and the snake monster. If they did, the people in Lujia Town would definitely resent An Chengcai and the snake monster. They just said that An Chengcai was eaten by the monster turtle, and then said that An Chengcai was equivalent to sacrificing his life for the country, and that the government army would send a pension in three days, and one of his sons and nephews could study in the county school for free for three years.
Fang Yun didn't bring any money at the moment, and said that he would send one thousand taels of silver to the An family in a few days.
Everyone didn't know Fang Yun had obtained the fragment of "Peach Blossom Spring", and they all thought Fang Yun gave too much. Fang Yun had no choice, in fact, he wanted to give more, but too much was not good, so he could only wait to help the An family in the future.
The remaining fragments of "Peach Blossom Spring" have become part of the world of strange books. Even if Fang Yun wanted to hand it over to the Holy Academy, he couldn't do it. He could only vow to kill more monsters and barbarians and live up to the remaining fragments of "Peach Blossom Spring".
After visiting the An family, everyone walked out of town. Lu Yu whispered, "One thousand taels of silver is too much. Many wealthy families can't even earn one thousand taels a year."
"Yes, too many." Ning Zhiyuan said.