Plan to cut off the nine states

Sun Yalu was not invited by the Tongpan from the city. He and Fan Bi were acquaintances and had frequent exchanges. Although he did not become his disciple, he was also his teacher and friend. When he heard the news of his death, he naturally came to pay his respects. However, he was delayed by some things and came a step late. He met the Tongpan on the way and asked the reason. He smiled and said, "Although the name is gone, the essence is not. Okay, I will go to meet him."

Outside the valley, Sun Yalu ran into the arguing disciples of the Fan Sect again.

After these people left the Siguo Valley, they felt more and more uncomfortable. They complained and accused each other, and finally quarreled on the road. Some wanted to go back. Even if they could not drive away the King of Wu, they had to guard the tomb and not let outsiders think that the orthodoxy of the Fan Sect really fell into the hands of the King of Wu.

"Brother An has been fooled. King Wu is treacherous. He asked you to invite other disciples to delay the war. He wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to occupy the Siguo Valley. Now, if anyone who comes to mourn sees King Wu guarding the tomb, they will think he is a disciple of Fan Sect!"

An Zhongqian was already in a state of panic. "King Wu's followers are all soldiers with knives. You saw it. We are unarmed. Can we rob them by force? Besides, it was not his idea to invite disciples. It was... Brother Yan, you say it."

Yan Wei was still calm. "If there are disciples who can refute Xu Chu's fallacies and heresies in the future, the righteous will be righteous. It will be useless for him to stay in the valley for a long time. If Fan Sect really has no one, what's the point of having a valley in vain? It will only give Xu Chu an excuse."

"What excuse can we leave if we go to guard the tomb?"

"Xu Chu will say that we do not abide by the will of our predecessor, misinterpret its purpose, simplify it, and only do superficial work instead of thinking about spreading the teachings."

"Guarding the tomb is not a good thing. Tomb for the filial piety of the disciple..."

An Zhongqian waved his hand, "Okay, you said these words to Xu Chu a long time ago, but he was defeated miserably, and he couldn't even speak, and I don't know where he ran away. "

"Xu Chu is just better at debate, so he is not to be feared. There are more than 200 disciples in Fan Sect, each with their own strengths. Can't you find someone who can refute him?"

"No need to think, it must be Brother Yin Fu, he is the best debater in Fan Sect."

"Not appropriate, Brother Yin Fu was a high official in Dongdu, and now I don't know where he is, where can I find him? And in terms of debate alone, Brother Yin Fu seems not as good as Brother Kou Daogu..."

"You think too much, Brother Kou has been in seclusion in the mountains for many years, and it is impossible to invite him."

"He is also a disciple of Fan Sect. He is unwilling to come out of the mountains to ask about such major events as the death of the master and the fall of the orthodox sect?"

...

Sun Yalu stopped on the side of the road on horseback, listened for a while with a group of onlookers, smiled and shook his head, and rode away.

Arriving at the Valley of Repentance, Sun Yalu ordered his followers to stay outside and only took one person into the valley to worship Fan Bi's tomb first. Seeing the newly erected stone tablet and the filled-up tomb mound, he shook his head again.

The followers took out tea sets and a few pieces of charcoal and boiled tea nearby. Sun Yalu poured tea on the ground and drank a cup himself, laughing: "I really don't know what to say. You have spent your whole life seeking the great way, but the road is getting narrower and narrower and more dangerous. Your own disciples can't keep up, but let an outsider take over."

Sun Yalu sighed three times, laughed three times, took the teapot and teacup from the followers, and came to see Xu Chu with both hands, either carrying or supporting them.

The old servant had been waiting on the road for a long time. "My master invites Mr. Sun to come in and see him."

"What a big shot."

"Mr. Sun, don't get me wrong. My master is not arrogant. He is just sitting in meditation. He said he doesn't want to understand, so he won't get up. He eats, drinks, defecates and urinates at the table. Mr. Sun, go in and persuade him not to be so stubborn. Apart from other things, he is concentrating on thinking. It is us who do the hard work and clean the room."

"Okay, I will persuade him, but it may not work."

"It's good to persuade him. The young master won't listen to our words. Mr. Sun has always been a person respected by the young master. What he says is more important than ours."

Sun Yalu looked at the old servant, "What is your name?"

"Oh, I'm not 'your name'. I'm an old servant of the Lou family. I have served the young master for many years. How can there be any name? Mr. Sun coughs or waves, and I will come over."

Sun Yalu didn't ask any more questions and stepped into the house. Like everyone else, the first person he saw was Feng Ju Niang. Like everyone else, he was slightly stunned.

"Mr. Sun." Feng Ji Niang bowed.

"I haven't seen you for a few days. Master Xu has changed a lot."

"Haha, Mr. Sun is really talkative. I am your maid. My surname is Feng and my name is Ji Niang."

"Oh, I've heard of your name for a long time."

Feng Ji Niang's eyes lit up. "Mr. Sun, are you being polite, or have you really heard of my name?"

"Outside the city of Dongdu and in the Jizhou army, many people spread the name of Feng Ji Niang."

"Haha, no need to ask, it's not a good name. Mr. Sun, you brought tea? You're too polite. We also have tea here, but it tastes worse."

Feng Ji Niang stepped forward to take the teapot and teacup and put them on the table.

Sun Yalu looked inside, and could only see a vague figure through the screen, "Mr. Xu... don't you plan to see me?"

Feng Ji Niang stepped forward and said with a smile: "Mr. Sun said that if Mr. Sun comes to reminisce, please go around the screen. If you come to debate, please get past me first."

Sun Yalu was stunned again, then smiled and shook her head: "The debate hasn't started yet, and Mr. Xu is giving me a head start. This is not the method of Mr. Fan."

"But Mr. Sun is not Mr. Fan's direct disciple, right?"

Sun Yalu looked at Feng Ji Niang again and smiled: "Okay, I'll get past you first."

"Please sit down."

"Debate is a minor trick after all. Those who think about it should sit down. Let's stand."

"Please have some tea."

"Miss Feng, please have some tea too."

"I'm not a girl, but I don't have a living husband, so what should I be called?"

"It's Mrs. Feng, no matter who the husband is."

"That's fine. Mr. Sun is a guest. Please ask Mr. Sun."

Sun Yalu picked up her teacup, poured herself a cup, took a sip, put down the cup, and said, "How many husbands did Mrs. Feng have?"

"Although debate is a trivial matter, isn't Mr. Sun's question too trivial?"

"The debate begins with establishing an argument. Before establishing an argument, we must look at the person we are. What I am asking is to know what Mrs. Feng is like as a person."

"Well, that makes sense. Allow me to ask first, how many husbands are I rumored to have?"

"The number varies, some say more than 20, some say more than a hundred."

"Haha, how can there be so many brave men? To be honest, there are less than fifteen."

"Don't you have an accurate number?"

"Some of them are getting married seriously, and some of them are just in name only. They haven't met in person yet, and they are already dead. It's hard to calculate. All in all, there are less than fifteen of them."

"All dead?"

"There won't be any left. Otherwise, I won't follow Mr. Xu and be his maid."

"I admire you." Sun Yalu handed over her hand, as if Feng Juniang had not killed more than a dozen husbands, but had personally gone to the battlefield and killed more than a dozen enemy generals.

Feng Juniang no longer cared about this and said with a smile: "You're welcome. Can I ask a question?"

"I haven't finished asking yet."

"Mr. Sun, are you interested in me? Or in the debate?"

"We're all interested."

Sun Yalu was older. Although she had a smile on her face, her words were not ridiculing at all. Feng Juniang also suppressed her smile and said, "Please continue to ask."

"Mrs. Feng has lost many husbands, and no one dares to marry - because of this, Mr. Xu refuses to give you a title?"

Feng Juniang smiled again, "Where did Mr. Sun think? My title is a maid, and I am actually a maid. The name and reality match, and there is no deviation at all."

"I see. But after Mr. Xu abdicated, he took Mrs. Feng and took refuge in Yecheng without his wife. I think he valued Mrs. Feng very much."

"Mr. Sun was wrong again. Mr. Xu didn't want to take me with him. It was me who was so shameless that I caught up with him halfway and insisted on being his maid."

Sun Yalu frowned slightly, "It's a good thing that Mr. Xu has a maid by his side, but why is Mrs. Feng?"

"Why is Mr. Sun always interested in my 'personality'?"

"If you know people, you know their opinions. You can ask me later. Just like now, you can ask anything. I will answer truthfully."

Feng Juniang thought for a while, "Among the many men I have met, only Mr. Xu regards me as an ordinary woman, not as a rare treasure that everyone is fighting for. I am tired of being robbed here and there. So I am willing to be Mr. Xu’s maid.”

"If he were the King of Wu, he would be able to protect you, but now he is just Mr. Xu, occupying a valley, and some people are dissatisfied. How can he protect you from being robbed?"

"I believe Mr. Xu, since he came to Yecheng, he must have a way to protect himself. If he can protect himself, he can also protect others."

"Difficult. Mr. Xu's abdication was beyond everyone's expectation. The incident happened in a hurry, and everyone's response was a step too late. Mrs. Feng also caught up halfway instead of following him at the time, right?"

"Well, what do you want to say, Mr. Sun?"

"Mr. Xu's journey has not yet been completed. He is still halfway there. Soon, people will catch up with him. Some of them may want to make Mr. Xu the King of Wu again."

"That's weird. You didn't stay at that time, but you wanted to establish King Wu again afterwards?"

"It's not surprising at all that he didn't retain him at that time because there was no loss and there was still gain. Later, he replaced him because he was dissatisfied with the new owner or had greater ambitions and wanted to use the King of Wu as a sign to fight for power."

"Not well-intentioned."

"That's right, I'm not well-intentioned."

The smile on Feng Juniang's face suddenly disappeared, "Mr. Sun does have a few tricks up his sleeve. You are implying that I am also uneasy, but as a woman, what power am I fighting for? What power can I gain?"

Sun Yalu cupped his hands and said, "That's what I was about to ask."

Feng Juniang smiled and said, "Just because I have the reputation of being a good husband, Mr. Sun was wary of me when we first met?"

"I don't believe what Croft said. I just think Mrs. Feng is in bad luck."

"Then why do you think I have bad intentions? I have made it very clear that I don't want to be robbed again, so I came to seek refuge with Mr. Xu."

"Mrs. Feng made it clear, but it was not the truth."

"How do you know it's not the truth?"

"Everyone wants to gain something, but Mrs. Feng did the opposite. She was willing to be a maid. She lost a lot and gained very little. There must be something hidden."

"There are more than thirty people outside like me. They caught up with Mr. Xu halfway. Do they all have hidden secrets?"

"I don't know. I know how to ask when face to face. Now I only ask Mrs. Feng."

"My answer is that there is no secret. Mr. Sun obviously doesn't understand the woman's thoughts."

Sun Yalu smiled, "I may not understand Mrs. Feng's thoughts, but I can slightly guess some of the thoughts of the Golden Saint."

Mentioning the Golden Saint, Feng Juniang's face changed slightly and she smiled awkwardly: "Why are you talking about her again?"

Sun Yalu no longer had any doubts, "The Golden Saint sent you to supervise Mr. Xu?"

"The more Mr. Sun talks, the more he talks. Why does the Golden Saint need to supervise Mr. Xu? Why should I do things for the Golden Saint? She is not my master."

Sun Yalu ignored him and raised her hands behind the screen, "Have I passed the test?"

Xu Chu smiled and said, "Mr. Sun, please take a seat."