Confucian and Taoist scholar

March 15th.

Early in the morning, the sky looked gloomy, and a group of dark clouds slowly shrouded in the distance.

Dongfang Xiong came to Du Ning's house.

"Master Du, great news!"

Dongfang Xiong excitedly said to Du Ning: "Your "Thousand Character Essay" is now selling well. It has sold more than 7,000 copies so far. Here are five hundred taels of silver notes, all earned by you."

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As he spoke, he handed five silver notes worth one hundred taels to Du Ning.

"Sold so many?"

Du Ning was also really surprised. He didn't expect that "The Thousand Character Essay" would have such an objective sales volume after its release.

"Starting from next month, your "Thousand Character Essay" will be published and sold by liberal arts academies in various places, and you will get more profit sharing. According to my estimation, you can get at least a thousand profit sharing next month.

Two silver notes."

Dongfang Xiong smiled and said: "The better the sales volume of "The Thousand Character Essay", the more the literary school will make. I am indeed right. If you become a god in the literary world with one book, you will be able to save enough in a few months."

With tuition fees, I went to Suzhou Liberal Arts College to study."

"Yeah."

Du Ning nodded slightly.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, there was a thunderbolt from the clear sky.

Dark clouds were passing overhead, and it looked like it was going to rain.

"It's going to rain, so I won't interrupt and say goodbye."

After Dongfang Xiong finished speaking, he left the courtyard of Du Ning's house.

"Mr. Dongfang, walk slowly."

Du Ning sent Dongfang Xiong away and quickly returned to the house.

…………

The rainy season comes and lasts for seven days.

And it’s getting bigger and bigger and more violent.

March 22.

There are many crops planted outside the city of Nanping Prefecture, and there is farmland as far as the eye can see.

Opposite the field is the Nanping River, and the people bring the river water into the field to irrigate the farmland.

Every year before the rainy season, the river government will send people to build embankments to ensure that the river embankments are safe.

With this violent storm, the water level continues to rise, but it is still within the tolerance limit.

Some river workers took shelter from the rain in the pavilion. When they saw some farmers coming back from inspecting the dam, they made sarcastic remarks.

"Thank you for your hard work. We have inspected the river a long time ago. Everything is normal within the dam. Although this year's rainy season is heavier than in previous years, there is absolutely no problem."

"We built this embankment. I can guarantee that throughout Suzhou, there is absolutely no river prefecture that has a better construction level than our Nanping River Prefecture."

"That's right! We have been in office for several years and have never stumbled on the river embankment, so don't worry about it."

The leader of the farmers laughed and said: "It's not that I can't trust you masters, but we ordinary people are just counting on this small harvest. If we don't come to inspect, we won't feel at ease."

"Haha... No matter how much you patrol, it's useless. As long as we river workers are here, the dam can't collapse!" the leader of the river workers said arrogantly.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Suddenly, there were muffled sounds from within the river embankment.

"What's going on? Where is the sound coming from?"

"It sounds like it's coming from inside the dam."

"Impossible!"

The leading river worker said with contempt: "This is just the sound of the river water lapping against the dam, don't think too much about it..."

"Boom!"

The river water broke through the dam and rushed into the fertile fields below.

"No!"

The farmers stared wide-eyed and were in disbelief.

They had just checked the water level, and it was clearly not beyond the limit. How could it be breached by the river?

"Something bad happened!"

"Our crops!"

Others were so angry that they beat their chests and felt very sad and angry.

The river workers immediately blushed. They had just praised Haikou, but they didn’t expect to be slapped in the face so quickly.

"Impossible!"

The face of the leading river worker changed drastically, and he roared in disbelief: "This is the dam we built, how could something happen! This is impossible!"

"Hurry and report to Lord River Governor!"

…………

March 23.

The heavy rain turned to light rain.

Countless people came to the shore and looked at the crops washed away by the river, and they all felt sad.

Many river workers looked at the dikes that were washed away by the river water, and they all looked ugly. They were being criticized and abused by countless people.

"Folks, I know why the levee collapsed."

A middle-aged farmer came down from the river embankment and said to everyone: "The materials used to build the river embankment are all inferior sand, gravel and cement. The quality is simply not up to standard, so it was washed away by the river water."

"Fart!"

When the river foreman heard this, he immediately became furious: "What do you mean by this? Are you slandering us for cutting corners and enriching our own pockets? Don't slander me!"

"If good materials were used, why would the river embankment be broken by the river water?" the middle-aged farmer asked.

"This..."

The river foreman couldn't say a word.

"Corrupt officials! We, the folks in Nanping Prefecture, only expected a good harvest from this land, but we didn't expect that your Hedao Prefecture actually cut corners!"

"I want to go to the government to punish you for the crimes of Hedao Prefecture and give justice to our people in Nanping Prefecture!"

"I have long heard that some of you river workers are greedy, but I never thought that you are so greedy. The crops are the hard work of our people! They are all ruined!"

There were bursts of angry curses everywhere.

"Presumptuous!"

A cold drink sounded, and a young man came over.

He put his hands behind his back and glanced at everyone present.

Behind him were a group of soldiers, all of whom were from Hedao Mansion.

"Master Tang, you are here!"

The river foreman was overjoyed and hurriedly took the lead and walked over.

The young man's name was Tang Hao, and he was the son of the governor of the Tang River. He was known as the Grand Prince of Tang, and was an eighth-rank scholar in Confucianism and Taoism.

After seeing Tang Hao coming, the farmers all shut up.

This is a powerful person!

"Who just called us corrupt officials?"

Tang Hao glanced at the farmers opposite.

"I scolded you."

A farmer stood up and was not afraid of Tang Hao.

"Someone, take it down."

"Yes."

The soldiers behind immediately rushed over and captured it.

"What are you going to do!" The farmer looked panicked.

Tang Hao walked over and slapped him violently.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!"

Screams rang out, and under Tang Hao's beating, his nose and face were suddenly bruised and swollen.

"You untouchable! How dare you call us corrupt officials!"

"Who do you think you are!"

"I beat you to teach you a lesson!"

With a "plop", the farmer fainted with stars in his eyes.

"Who just said you wanted to sue the government?"

Tang Hao's sharp gaze swept across the opposite side again.

"Stop hiding, it's you!" Tang Hao pointed at someone.

The soldier ran over and quickly captured the man.

"Mr. Tang, I was wrong. I was too talkative for a moment. I..."

"Pa!"

Tang Hao greeted him with a slap in the face, slapped him wildly, and knocked out another one within two seconds.

Everyone was furious and their eyes widened.

At this moment, a scholar stood up. He pointed at Tang Hao and said, "That's too much. You are also a scholar after all. How can you do anything to the common people?"

"Presumptuous!"

Tang Hao looked at this scholar, who was only a scholar of the ninth grade of Confucianism and Taoism, so he said arrogantly: "Who are you, and you dare to teach me a lesson?"

"I'm Zhang Yuan, a student of Hanyi Club."

"Haha... Hanyishe! Haha..."

Tang Hao laughed loudly and looked at Zhang Yuan with an expression full of contempt: "A mere student from a poor family dares to come here to be the leader. It's really hilarious!"

"Haha..."

The soldiers around Tang Hao also laughed loudly. They were not scholars and had no fame, but they looked down on Zhang Yuan extremely.

Zhang Yuan held his head high and said: "Tang Hao, I am communicating with you as a scholar now, about this matter..."

"Zhang, shut up!"

"Who do you think you are? How dare you call Mr. Tang by his first name!"

"You are so rude, how dare you disrespect Mr. Tang!"

The soldiers scolded each other, not to mention how arrogant they were.

"Shut up!"

Zhang Yuan said loudly: "It's not your turn to speak here!"

"What did you say!"

When the soldiers heard this, they seemed to feel that they had been greatly humiliated and wanted to beat Zhang Yuan.

"What? Not convinced? Do you want to try a few tricks?"

Zhang Yuan looked at these soldiers with disdain. He was a scholar and talented. Even if he had not practiced any martial arts, his physique was stronger than that of an elite soldier. Knocking down a soldier with one punch was as easy as hitting a kindergarten kid.

The soldiers looked at each other, but no one dared to step forward.

"Zhang Yuan, you are so presumptuous!"

Tang Hao showed displeasure and said, "Do you want to go against me, the Hedao Mansion, and the Yamen of Nanping Mansion?"

"Don't use the name of the government to suppress me. Do you think I, Zhang Yuan, will be afraid of you guys who pretend to be powerful?"

Zhang Yuan said contemptuously: "Li Changsheng, the leader of our Hanyi Society, is a distinguished official, and Mr. Du is the head of the Golden List. The emperor has granted him the title of seventh-grade viscount. If your Hedao Prefecture cannot uphold justice for the people, they will report it to the court."

Please investigate thoroughly. Once someone from the court comes, be careful that your father’s hat will be in danger.”

Tang Hao was furious. He didn't expect that a young scholar from a poor family would dare to threaten him like this. It was really unreasonable!

"What a loud tone. To tell you the truth, I have never taken that guy Li Changsheng seriously. In front of me, he is nothing!"

"And Du Ning, who is a seventh-grade Viscount? My father is a sixth-grade river governor!"

"Do you think Du Ning is qualified to challenge us because he is a bullshit seventh-grade viscount? Most of the people in the court today are officials of our Wise King Party. So what if Li Changsheng and Du Ning go to court?

”

"As long as we say hello to the officials of the Xian Wang Party, can their memorials be admitted to the Sixth Ministry? Can they be brought to court?"

"Ridiculous!"

Tang Hao's words made Zhang Yuan's expression extremely ugly.

The power of the Wise King Party is so strong that most officials support the Eight Wise Kings as the crown prince, and he will likely ascend to the throne of prince.

Most of the officials in Nanping Mansion are also disciples of the Eight Sage Kings.

I am afraid that even if Li Changsheng and Du Ning participate in the concert, they may be detained by officials of the Xian Wang Party.

"Humph!"

Zhang Yuan turned around and left with a gloomy face.

"Did I let you go?"

Tang Hao took a quick step and blocked Zhang Yuan's path, with a malicious look on his face.

"What are you going to do?"

Zhang Yuan's expression changed and he became alert.