Chapter 254 How Daring! (4)
August of the nineteenth year of Jiayou was very noisy.
In the market, some news could not be concealed after all, and spread out through word of mouth among the people.
All the men in Jizhou City were killed, and women in the city continued to disappear in the following days. Eventually, the huge Jizhou City became a deserted city. Similar things happened in other counties in Jizhou. Many cities with dense populations became ghost towns.
The city of Jizhou was massacred, and the entire city was killed, not even a chicken or a dog was left alive.
The city of Hezhou was robbed, all the men died, and the women were raped.
The city of Qizhou rebelled, and the governor of the state raised the flag of rebellion and launched an attack on the neighbors in all directions.
In Mozhou City, there was a rebellion, the governor was killed, and local powerful families rose up and formed private armies, resulting in a fierce fighting.
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Bad news kept coming out from various channels, and inadvertently, there was a feeling that Dayin was in turmoil and the country was about to collapse.
As time goes by, there are more and more news of this kind. More and more people are discussing this news on the streets, and they are becoming bolder and bolder.
Even by the end of August, storytellers in teahouses and restaurants dared to openly tell their tea drinkers and diners about "unique news" they had received from unknown sources.
In the past, which common hero or storyteller would dare to say these things so grandly?
Do you really think that the palace guards, the patrol censors, the street patrol officers, and the officials of various government offices are all vegetarians?
But in August, the heroes were allowed to make up stories and the storytellers were allowed to talk nonsense. No one, whether it was the palace guards, the inspectors, or any other government offices, could restrain these things.
If the government doesn't take any action, the people below will become even more daring.
Gradually, all kinds of brilliantly crafted rumors emerged, such as that the emperor was immoral, the empress dowager was debauched, the general was unjust, and the prime minister was a traitor who brought disaster to the country and the people.
The continuous flow of imperial troops from the major markets in Gaojing to the General's Mansion made this sense of precarious chaos intensify a hundredfold.
One after another, the imperial guards entered the General's Mansion, but no one was ever seen coming out.
The General's Mansion is indeed a huge military city that protects the imperial city. Its interior is extremely large, but how can it possibly accommodate the entire imperial guards of Haojing?
There are more than 2,000 markets in Haojing, including first-, second- and third-grade markets, with a garrison size of tens of thousands.
There are nearly 10,000 troops stationed in the third, fourth and fifth grade markets.
Only those markets of the seventh, eighth and ninth grades were filled with small villages where farmers grew crops, vegetables and firewood were cut. In such markets, the number of garrisons ranged from hundreds to thousands.
Even so, the number of imperial guards stationed in the entire Gaojing was an extremely large number.
How could a mere general's mansion accommodate so many people?
For a time, evil winds were everywhere, and some scoundrels in the market spread rumors that the general had committed a professional crime. He slaughtered countless soldiers of the imperial guards and sold their flesh and blood as various kinds of pig, horse, cattle and sheep meat.
The rumors are so absurd, but there is no official effort to stop them.
Those who were attentive only noticed that the noble ministers, civil and military officials in the city of Haojing, big and small, new and old, from aristocratic families or from humble backgrounds, all took turns going to three places these days.
The General's Mansion, the Imperial City and the Jiuqu Garden.
When going to the General's Mansion, the natural place to go is to meet General Le Wu.
Going to the imperial city, of course, is to meet the current Empress Dowager Le.
Going to Jiuqu Garden... When the emperor issues an edict, the ministers will naturally go to see the emperor.
However, the ministers went to three places and met the three most powerful people in Dayin today. No one knows what they said, discussed, agreed, promised, or asked for!
In addition to these ministers, the protons of the Sijifang also began to move.
The ministers went out in broad daylight, while these hostages sneaked out at night.
They also went in and out of the General's Mansion, the Imperial City and Jiuqu Garden. They all knew that it was useless to hide their heads and tails, but they still wandered around in a hidden way.
Similarly, outsiders do not know what they talked about with the three, what they asked for, and what they promised.
Regarding this, Lu Yi expressed his calmness.
No matter how noisy those civil and military ministers and royal nobles made, he was very calm every day. He went out early in the morning and took Qingyou and the other two girls to the busiest streets in the imperial city, Wuyinfang and Kunpengfang, where they ate all kinds of snacks and delicacies from the beginning to the end of the street.
Afterwards, the four of them, with a team of guards and one or two carriages behind them, walked through the streets and alleys, specifically visiting antique shops, herbal medicine shops, rare item shops, etc.
Among them, there are also some snack shops, rouge shops, etc.
At first glance, they seemed to be a group of young men and women who were ignorant of the worries of the world. They spent a large amount of money and bought all kinds of unknown little gadgets, filling up carriage after carriage.
Sometimes, when Lu Yi and Qingyou passed by the Imperial College, the Imperial Academy, or some restaurants or teahouses where scholars gathered, he would put his hands behind his back and listen to the scholars' discussions on poetry and articles for a while, and then calmly, pretending inspired, casually pointed at a chrysanthemum, a tree of red leaves, or even a teacup or a wine glass, and recited a wonderful poem.
Amid the exclamations and worshipful gazes of countless scholars, Lu Yi, who had made a wonderful speech, would remain calm, and walk away leisurely with his hands behind his back, carrying the green pomelo with a slightly red face, and the green limes and green lemons with red cheeks due to excitement.
Therefore, in stark contrast to the uproar in the capital city of Haojing, Lu Yi's reputation as the "Poet Saint" became increasingly popular.
Finally, this day.
On September 1, the 19th year of Jiayou's reign, an imperial edict was sent from Jiuqu Garden to the imperial city, requesting the empress dowager to use the seal.
The empress dowager rejected the imperial eunuch and ordered the chief eunuch Yu Sandou to personally deliver the imperial edict back to Jiuqu Garden.
What followed brought all the turmoil and discussions in the capital city of Hao to an abrupt end.
Unless the emperor asked the empress dowager to use the empress dowager's seal and the emperor's seal on imperial edicts - as mentioned earlier, a complete set of seals, including Yinyuan's seal of the emperor and Dayin's seal of the emperor, were all kept in the hands of the empress dowager.
The empress dowager refused to use the seal, so the emperor actually stamped his own private seal on the edict. This seal was usually used by the emperor to read books, appreciate paintings, and appreciate various collections. The private seal stamped on these collections only represented the emperor's personal identity and did not have any official power.
In short, the emperor used his own personal seal on the edict and issued it to the whole world.
The gist of the imperial edict was that because Lu Yu, Lu Yi, Lu Jun, Lu Yi and others had made outstanding contributions to the state, they were specially rewarded:
Lu Yu was given the title of "Lord Tian'en" and all the ceremonial equipment and expenses were the same as those of a prince of the royal family.
Lu Yu was given the title of "Tianyang Jun" and all the ceremonial equipment and expenses were the same as those of a prince of the royal family.
Lu Jun and Lu Yi were both given the title of "Marquis" and the military rank of Yu Lin Zhong Lang.
Mrs. Hu's three younger brothers, who were Lu Jun and Lu Yi's uncles, were forcibly conscripted by Lu Yu and almost shackled to go with him to quell the rebellion. Because of their "outstanding merits", they were recommended by Lu Yu and Lu Yi and were awarded the titles of Wuzhou Mu, Wuzhou Pacifier and Wuzhou Expeditionary Envoy respectively.
These three people inexplicably went from being commoners to high-ranking officials of the second and lower second ranks in the imperial dynasty!
Apart from these three "uncles" who got high positions inexplicably, all the confidants of Lu Yu and Lu Yi, including Ah Hu who had never set foot in Wuzhou, and a group of core tiger masters in Baihu Hall, also got honors and military positions of varying degrees because of their "military achievements".
Just like Ah Hu, he transformed himself from a street fighting gang leader into a baron and captain of the Imperial Guards.
The last item of the imperial edict praised Lu Yi for his "noble character" and "astonishing literary talent". In the official capacity and in the name of the emperor, Lu Yi was named "Poet Sage" and "Literary Master", and was granted the actual positions of "Deputy Principal" of the Imperial College and "Deputy Principal" of the Imperial Academy.
As soon as the imperial edict was issued, there was an uproar in Haojing.
It would be fine to reward Lu Yu, Lu Yi and others for their military merits, but the emperor could give Dayin any official position he wanted.
But there was no official seal of the emperor on the edict. The consequence of this matter...
Countless people's eyes have been cast towards the imperial city.
The emperor's final reward to Lu Yi, titles like "Poet Sage" and "Literary Master", as well as powerful positions in the Imperial College and the Imperial Academy, confused the cultural and educational disciples in the city of Haojing and immediately created huge divisions and conflicts among countless of them.
Some of the cultural and educational disciples who were amazed by the poems and articles that Lu Fu had presented earlier , applauded and cheered in unison, saying that Lu Fu deserved the title and cheered for this imperial edict.
As for the disciples of literature and education who opposed Lu Yi, especially those direct descendants of Bai Changkong, they cursed loudly without caring about their dignity. Some of them even secretly colluded with each other and prepared to go to the imperial city and Jiuqu Garden to kneel down and make a "die-in-remonstration".
It is said that even cultural and educational leaders such as Zhu Chong were furious at the emperor's edict.
The 'Poet Saint' can be tolerated, but the 'Emperor of Literature' cannot!
What is "Wen Zong"?
In today's world, the leader of culture and education is the 'Wen Zong'!
If Lu Fu was the "leader of culture and education", then what became of Zhu Chong and other great sages who came from families of cultural and educational saints?
In particular, since the establishment of culture and education, there has only been one "Zhu Sheng" who was personally canonized and announced to the world as "Wen Zong" by the emperor!
The emperor's decree was equivalent to finding another "living ancestor" for Zhu Chong and others!
The cultural and educational leaders in Haojing City were suddenly furious.
On the evening of the day the decree was issued, in the imperial city , inside the Fuyao Palace, under the dim candlelight, behind the curtain where the empress dowager was holding court, she sat expressionlessly on the throne, looking through the pearl curtain at Le Wu, who was crawling on the ground.
"Did the emperor really send out the imperial edict?" The Queen Mother said coldly, "How could he dare to do that?"
Le Wu said in a low voice: "But sister, he really did it!"
The Queen Mother was silent for a long time, then sighed: "This matter is very difficult for me to handle."
Le Wu raised his head suddenly and said in a hurry: "Sister, he is just one of your sons...but I am your biological brother!"
The Queen Mother's eyes suddenly widened.
She looked down at Le Wu who was kneeling on the ground and said in a deep voice: "You have been mobilizing troops frequently these days...How confident are you?"
Le Wu grinned, his lips were as white as paper, and his eyes were slightly red.
"Don't worry, sister. I'm 100% sure." Le Wu smiled. "The emperor may have asked a few strangers to help, but the overall situation is in my hands, in yours!"
