Volume 5: Fellow Traveler Chapter 788: Warrior's Heart
A single stone stirs up a thousand waves. The question the emperor asked in the Ge Mansion spread like wildfire, not only to all the candidates who took the exam, but also to the common people on the street. The different answers given by the five celebrities also spread like wildfire, and each of them had their own supporters, and of course, there were also fierce opponents who criticized them.
At this time, Mr. Lin, after thinking it over again and again, actually invited a few of his close friends to participate in order to discuss the topic raised by Zhang Shou. Some of them readily agreed to participate, while others declined because they thought it was a joke. However, the private historians who were interested all felt that this topic was worth in-depth analysis, and they did not dislike the unprofessionalism of the students of Banshan Hall.
However, these noble children in Banshan Hall, after leaving the public school, ordered their servants around in a panic... because they needed to catch up on various historical materials!
As a result, all kinds of historical books related to the History of the Song Dynasty were almost sold out in all the major bookstores in the capital. Of course, the noble children in Banshan Hall would not buy a tome like the History of the Song Dynasty, which was nearly 500 volumes long. What's more, the library sponsored by Lu Wan was said to have already purchased a set. Naturally, they shamelessly finalized the borrowing arrangement through Lu Sanlang.
Although their families were quite wealthy, and most of their elders were generous with their expenses for serious reading, buying books was always the most expensive thing. How much would a set of "History of the Song Dynasty" cost... It was not like they had too much money! With this money, they might as well buy other books!
However, these young masters sent people to search for all the unofficial histories and literati notes of the Song Dynasty, such as "Dongjing Menghualu", "Beishu Jianwenlu", "Jianyan Bilu", "Jingkang Chuanxinlu", "Jingkang Jiwen"... Of course, they could not come up with such a detailed list of books with their own limited knowledge and the ability of the servants of the rich families.
This list of books was compiled by Liang Xiaojuren after he had done his best to recall what he had learned. Because of his broad knowledge, the young masters were not averse to such an outsider who suddenly intervened. After all, apart from this person, the Jin Kingdom needed two groups, but no one else was willing to take the lead, so the entire Banshan Hall had to draw lots to decide.
And the worst lot, except for Liang Chu, actually fell into the hands of the extremely sad and angry Zhang.
As a result, he wanted to hide the truth from his father when he returned, but Xiangyang Earl Zhang Qiong somehow knew that his son was actually trying to stand on the side of the Jin Kingdom to deduce the war between Song and Jin. He was so angry that he didn't use any family rules. He just picked up the sheathed knife and chased after his big son, scaring him like a ghost crying and a wolf howling.
"How can you blame me for this! There were more than 40 sticks in total, and only one was short. How could I have known that I would be so unlucky! Besides, that kid surnamed Liang is Mr. Baisha's senior student. He knows what righteousness is the most, but he took the initiative to say that he would start from the invasion of the Jin Kingdom to the south... Ouch!"
Zhang Qiong, the Earl of Xiangyang, who finally caught up with Zhang the big guy, ignored Zhang the big guy's crying and grabbed him by the collar, swung the sheathed steel knife and hit his fat buttocks and legs twice, then started cursing in anger.
"These scholars are shameless! In the past, people kept saying that those military generals at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty ate and took things from the court, and surrendered to the Mongols at the last moment. On the contrary, Prime Minister Wen, who was born a scholar, died heroically, and Lu Xiufu carried the little emperor on his back and jumped into the sea, with tens of thousands of ordinary soldiers and civilians following him... Bah, do they think they are Prime Minister Wen when they are in danger?"
"I think when they are in danger, they should just act like that damned Prime Minister Zhang Bangchang!"
Zhang the big guy was beaten so hard by his father that he cried out in anger. Before he could say a few more words in defense, his father finally stopped the sheath knife from wreaking havoc on his butt and even loosened his hand, letting him fall on his back on the ground.
"Listen carefully, from ancient times to the present, no matter what dynasty, as long as the emperor is still in power, even if he is called a tyrant, most of the blame will always be borne by treacherous ministers. But how can the so-called treacherous ministers be willing to take the blame alone? They will inevitably drag others to take the blame. At this time, the defeated generals who have lost the battle will naturally die."
"So, from ancient times to the present, defeated generals include those who died in battle, those who committed suicide, those who escaped, those who were held accountable or even executed after escaping, and of course, those who knelt down and served the enemy... However, among those who knelt down and served the enemy, there was Li Ling who was cut off from reinforcements, and Lu Wenhuan who defended Xiangyang for six years without seeing any reinforcements!"
"So the Southern Song Dynasty had such an ending, it was all because of the causes planted before! At the junction of the two Song Dynasties, those emperors and ministers deserved to be exiled to the north... Bullshit exiled to the north, they lost the battle and were miserably captured by the enemy country and made slaves. If they really had ambition, they could have just killed themselves on the way, at least they could have left a reputation of being unyielding. There are actually people sighing that the only difficulty in the history is death, as if they are quite wronged!"
After a long and bitter scolding, Zhang Qiong, the Earl of Xiangyang, glanced at his son who was lying on the ground like a fool, and then said word by word: "In short, since you have drawn the worst lot, I would say that if you were alone, even if you had the best cards in the Jin Kingdom, you might still be killed. Go find that young scholar Liang, and you two can team up."
"Mr. Zhang's division is really a waste. Since they are all from the Jin Kingdom, why do we need two groups? You two can just form one group! Regarding military strategy, I'll give you advice. As for scheming and political conspiracy, let Liang use his brain. By the way, go ask Zhang Shou. Doesn't he have several other candidates named Song in his family? If they are willing, bring them all over to discuss with you."
Dad, weren't you furious because I had to choose the side of the Jin Kingdom? If you were like this, how could those candidates be willing to stand on the side of the Jin Kingdom? Zhang Daku looked at his father blankly and blankly, until he noticed that Xiangyang Bo Zhang Qiong's eyes revealed the anger of being disappointed in his father, and then he screamed and jumped up in a hurry.
He did not bother to guess what his father meant, but nodded and said, "Dad, I know, I know, I'll go find someone right away! Don't worry, I will definitely beat those guys to a pulp!"
Seeing Zhang the big guy slip away, Zhang Qiong spit in anger. What he just said was indeed what he thought. A long time ago, when he led a small army to support the northern expedition, he accidentally encountered the main force of the enemy. The battle was so fierce that even the soldiers around him were almost wiped out.
At that time, the envoys who tried to persuade him to surrender used the examples of Li Ling and Lu Wenhuan to persuade him, and he did have some hesitations - but in the end he gritted his teeth and held on.
But that was not because of how kind Emperor Ruizong was to him... Emperor Ruizong did value him very much, but he had followed the other party to seize the world, his body was covered with wounds, he fought hard, and narrowly escaped death several times. He did not feel that he had let anyone down, not to mention that he had already experienced three days and three nights of desperate fighting, which was enough to repay him.
If he surrendered, he might have a chance to survive, but his detachment had already missed the deadline. Even if he fought hard and escaped, he would be dead if he returned to the court and was tried by military law.
But... he absolutely could not surrender. Even after Li Ling surrendered, his parents, brothers, wife and children were implicated. Although he had no sons at that time, he still had brothers who were connected by blood. How could he kneel down and surrender to the enemy just to save his own life, and then implicate a lot of people?
Thinking of the past, thinking of the time when he was almost out of food and water, and the soldiers were exhausted, reinforcements suddenly came from the sky, Zhang Qiong couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. His small army was blocked, while Emperor Ruizong's main force happened to be able to attack Huanglong without any obstruction. After learning the whereabouts of the enemy's main force, the emperor personally selected 3,000 elite soldiers to come to the rescue.
Although that was not what a wise ruler should do, because a son of a rich family should not sit in the palace, let alone the emperor. However, it was at that time that he finally realized what kind of person his elder brother led them to follow. Therefore, even if Emperor Ruizong died young, he was still .
If it were a heartless and disloyal monarch, or a civil official who was sweet-mouthed but treacherous, he would not be able to tolerate them like some loyal guys... He would definitely draw his sword and rebel against his mother, and at the worst, both of them would perish together!
Big guy Zhang had no idea what had gone wrong with his father, but since he was willing to be his advisor, he went straight to Zhang Garden. But when he arrived at the door and saw the two big red lanterns that had just been lit, he looked up at the sky and realized what time it was.
Coming to Zhang Shou at this dark hour...will he be beaten to death by Zhu Ying? Just when Zhang was about to back out, the concierge had already spotted him. Yang Hao ran over and bowed to him with a smile: "The young lady hasn't come back yet. If you want to see the young master, you've come at the right time."
Hearing that Zhu Ying hadn't returned yet, Zhang the big guy immediately became energetic. He patted Yang Hao's shoulder without any airs, and didn't blame him at all or even call him by his name - after all, there were too many people with the surname Zhang in the capital, and if everyone called him Master Zhang, no one would know who he was calling.
Sure enough, as he entered, he faintly heard someone shouting that Zhang Zhaizhang from Banshan Hall had arrived. He was very satisfied with this title, and when he finally saw Zhang Shou, he found that he was not in the study, but in the martial arts arena.
Of course, this was definitely not Zhang Shou's sudden impulse to practice martial arts with someone to strengthen his body, but he was standing at the edge of the martial arts field where lanterns were hung, watching intently the two figures fighting inside.
As a descendant of a martial arts family, although Zhang Dakuai's martial arts skills were not very good, he at least had some vision. Therefore, when he saw the two people's ghostly movements, he could not help but gasp, and even very unfilially compared them with his father who often boasted that his swords were still as sharp as ever.
Finally, he came to a conclusion that might make his father furious. If anyone in the field met his father at this moment, his father would probably flee in embarrassment after just a few moves.
However, at this moment, Zhang the Big Guy had already recognized the two parties fighting. One was Ah Liu, the most capable man around Zhang Shou, whom he would often call "Sixth Brother" with a smile on his face. The other was Hua Qi, who was now walking in the palace and was said to be a capable family general of the Duke of Zhao's mansion. Of course, he had also heard that the two seemed to be master and apprentice!
He stopped and watched for a while this contest between master and disciple, and found that no result would be reached in a short time, so he quickly walked behind Zhang Shou and conveyed the meaning of Xiangyang Earl Zhang Qiong without even bothering to say hello.
Of course, he concealed some of Zhang Qiong's words that were obviously taboo. Although he believed in Zhang Shou's integrity, he did not want his father's unknown side to be exposed to outsiders.
Zhang Shou had not expected that Zhang Qiong, a senior military leader like Xiangyang Bo, would be willing to act as a think tank behind the scenes in such a discussion. But since Zhang the Big Guy said that Zhang Qiong was only providing advice and had no intention of participating in the discussion, he could not help but smile.
"The Earl of Xiangyang has good intentions. If he goes into battle himself, this will not just be a joke for a group of students in Banshan Hall of the public school. I'm afraid that countless people in the court will roll up their sleeves to get involved . At that time, it will be a case of using history to criticize the present."
After laughing, he said nonchalantly, "Also, you said Liang Shuhou and you are on the same side. That's easy. I'll send someone to take you to see him later. You can just tell him yourself. He is a young man who has achieved success and is quite genuine, so it's best to tell him directly. Your father is an advisor, so you might as well tell him. After all, you are on the same side."
"As for those people you mentioned, Mr. Song..." Zhang Shou thought for a moment, then smiled and touched his chin. "Mr. Song has a personality that will never let go of something he likes, but I don't think he would be very interested in this kind of historical dispute . However, Mr. Zou Ming and his three are serious candidates who are planning to make achievements in the imperial examinations, as well as Fang Qing. They should be very interested."
When Zhang the big guy heard Zhang Shou clearly suggesting that he give up Mr. Song, although this was different from his father's advice, for him, hiding half of his father's words from Zhang Shou was one thing, and deciding which one he should trust more between his father and Zhang Shou was another matter!
His father had several sons, and Zhang Shou also had many students, but his father had never treated his son as well as Zhang Shou treated his student! Zhang Shou was right, he didn't have to count on Mr. Song.
Besides, this was not a matter of principle, so Zhang the big guy agreed immediately. When Zhang Shou waved for someone to take him to the guest house at the back, he glanced at the master and disciple who were still fighting. In the end, he suppressed his curiosity and went straight to do his own business.
Seeing that Hua Qi and Ah Liu were still fighting after Zhang the big guy left, Zhang Shou couldn't help but yawn and shouted, "Ah Liu, Yang Hao and the others defeated the strong with their weaker side. They were just being clever and taking advantage of the situation. You should not be so stubborn. After all, Master Hua Qi is stronger than you."
As soon as he finished speaking, Hua Qi couldn't help but feel the pressure from the young man in front of him suddenly increased. It happened in a flash. How could he not know that Zhang Shou was trying to provoke him? He almost didn't think twice and withdrew from the battle formation. Then he came to Zhang Shou like a gust of wind and said, "No more fighting. I came here to talk about business. Who knew I would be entangled by this kid! My son-in-law, you should know that the eldest prince was drugged, not poisoned to death!"
