Mythology Starts with Childish Skills

Yunhua County is a small county located more than 230 miles northwest of Kunnan County. It is a small town with few people, a depressed economy, poor culture, and poor martial arts. It can be said to be the lower county among lower counties.

It was also the first time for Meng Zhao to see a city where the overall atmosphere and mental state were so silent and depressed.

When entering the city, you can see the mottled traces of time on the city gate. Large areas of the wall have fallen off. There are scratches from swords, holes from long arrows and crossbows, and even the crimson color soaked in blood. After many vicissitudes of life, there has been little repair. This is unimaginable for a county that regards its city gate as a face.

No matter how miserable it is on the inside, the glamor on the outside always has to be disguised. However, Yunhua County has no intention of even pretending, and nakedly exposes the poverty and embarrassment of the county.

After entering the city, you can see beggars in ragged clothes and holding bamboo poles or broken porcelain bowls scattered in the streets and alleys.

There are indeed many people on the supposedly bustling streets, but most of them are dressed in ordinary or even tattered clothes. They are walking in a hurry, and their faces are full of traces of being oppressed by life. A few of them are bright and beautiful, not martial arts warriors holding swords. A distinguished person is a domestic servant who comes from a wealthy family. He is very arrogant, but he has the feeling of being crowned like a monkey.

These few glamorous people were inconspicuous among the majestic river-like flow of people, and occasionally received jealous and vicious looks from others.

Something was wrong, very wrong. Although Meng Zhao didn't talk about traveling all over the country, but from Jizhou, to Lingwu City, and now to Yanzhou, he had never seen any county with such a lifeless feeling.

It’s not that there are cities that are poorer than Yunhua County, but their mental outlook is completely different.

"Here, Dali, have you ever been to this Yunhua County? Why is it like this?"

Although the rebellion in the south is in full swing, and the battlefield has even expanded again and again, people with insight can see that Dayong is still at its peak, just 130 years after the founding of the country. Whether it is the issue of land annexation or the rise of powerful families, it is also The limit has not been reached, and most of the people can live with food and clothing. No matter how poor their lives are, the imperial government will coordinate the arrangements to provide relief, so they will not lose sight of the hope of life.

However, the people in this city gave Meng Zhao a sense of chaos, as if he was living in war or even the end of the world, which made it difficult for him, who claimed to be a descendant of an aristocratic family, to accept it.

"Oh, what else could it be? Brother, you are from a noble family. Have you never heard of Zeng Wangzhi?"

Meng Zhao's expression changed. He looked at it and a thought flashed through his mind like lightning.

"You mean Zeng Bu?"

Niu Dali nodded. Now dressed in clean and tidy clothes, he was less fierce and arrogant, more honest and reliable. His strong and burly figure looked particularly powerful, much like Meng Zhao's guard.

"It's him. Yunhua County is an exception in Yanzhou. If it weren't for Zeng Wangzhi, Yunhua County wouldn't be in the same situation."

Zeng Bu, also called Zeng Wangzhi, was a native of Yunhua County, Yanzhou, Great Yong. He was erudite and good at writing, handsome in appearance, arrogant and arrogant. He was a very distinctive person in the northern literary world. After becoming a Jinshi, he served as a local official with outstanding political achievements.

Later, he entered the court and became a big boss. He advocated the Tai'an Reform, which was a reform with the main idea of ​​reducing the strength of sects and aristocratic families, suppressing martial arts people, promoting Confucianism and French style, and bringing most of the power to the central government. Became a very influential figure in the Yong Dynasty.

In essence, Dayong was founded by Taizu and a large number of aristocratic families and sects. The original slogan was so loud that they ruled the world together with the sects of the aristocratic families. As a result, Zeng announced that he would abolish the various privileges of the sects and aristocratic families and level down the martial arts. Advocating the promotion of literary style is simply an alternative among alternatives.

The resistance it faces is also unimaginable.

Of course, Zeng Bu is estimated to be just a chess piece and a puppet placed on the stage. The one who really wants to carry out reforms will only be the Beitang royal family, and it can only be the Beitang royal family, because this reform may not be right for the place or the right people. The common people are beneficial to the world, but they must be beneficial to the Beitang royal family.

Of course, there is no doubt that the Taining Reform failed. A reform that was resisted and opposed by the vast majority of Dayong families and sects, and the person who presided over the reform, would never end well.

Similarly, the emperor who supported Zeng Bu's reform also fell ill and died of a sudden illness.

Meng Hongdao once talked to Meng Zhao about the war in the south, and speculated that it was related to the Li family with nine surnames. He also vaguely mentioned the deaths of the two emperors before Beitang Sheng. This was unusual. It seemed to be an elder from a family with eight surnames. The monster takes action to kill.

One can imagine what will happen to Zeng Bu, who is at the center of the storm.

He was executed at Lingchi, deprived of all past official honors, smashed the folk shrines built for Zeng Bu, annihilated his nine tribes, and even listed him as one of the traitorous officials...

It can be said that when the vast majority of aristocratic families, sects and even the high-end forces of the world are combined, they are unable to compete. Zeng Bu cannot, and neither can the Beitang royal family.

Yunhua County, the hometown of the "great traitor" Zeng Bu, also became a city that was extremely disgusted and made things difficult for the upper-level forces in the court because of the petition submitted by the people to intercede on behalf of this former proud son of the county.

Taxes are too heavy, and the court does not allocate funds in the event of natural or man-made disasters. Those who have served as magistrates of Yunhua County over the years have all failed in court struggles, and are equivalent to being exiled here...

Over the years, Yunhua County has transformed from a large and prosperous county into a small and poor county today.

Even if you want to move from Yunhua County, it is still a very difficult thing, because when it comes to household registration transfer, it will inevitably be reported to the relevant government agencies, and then rejected, which is also a manifestation of the will of the court.

That's why the whole city seems so lifeless, because there is no hope for the future, but it is hated by the upper class forces of the entire country. It is quite good that it can tolerate it for so many years without breaking out or causing chaos.

"It turns out that this is the case. There is a saying that when one person attains enlightenment, chickens and dogs ascend to heaven. Now, in this entire Yunhua County, because of one person, several generations of people in the county have fallen into the abyss. It is really sad!"

Meng Zhao always felt that choice was very important.

If Zeng had stepped down and the village elders of Yunhua County had drawn a clear line with him, settled down and acted as his own people, instead of submitting a letter to the people, how could they use public opinion to force the princes to make concessions? It would not have led to today's situation.

It can only be said that a qualified leader is very important, otherwise the leader will make a foolish decision that will affect the lives and even survival of generations to come.

If nothing unexpected happened, the person and even the family who initiated the Wanmin Book would be despised and resented by the entire county, and would be nailed to the pillar of shame along with Zeng Bu.

Unless Dayong is destroyed one day and a group of people who once held the pinnacle of power are also submerged in the long river of history, Yunhua County will have the slightest hope of regrouping and restoring its old outlook.