The First Lackey Under The Empress

In the distance.

After leaving the residence of the Heir Apparent, Xue Shence and the others went ahead, leaving Zhao Du'an behind to handle the aftermath.

"A bunch of idiots! If it weren't for the Lord coming today, you'd be in for a world of hurt."

Hou Renmeng took a few steps, brandishing his scabbard and striking the three men in brocade uniforms in a flurry of blows.

Zhao Du'an raised his hand to stop him, saying calmly, "Enough, if you keep hitting them, they'll really be useless."

"Bah, good riddance!" Hou Renmeng still looked furious, scolding the three men, "Aren't you going to thank the Lord?"

The three men woke up as if from a dream, their eyes red, like children who had made a mistake, accepting the beating and admitting their fault.

Zhao Du'an didn't look angry, saying calmly:

"Don't let it happen again. Old Hou, take them back to the yamen first, apply some medicine to their wounds. I'll go back for a meeting this afternoon. It seems I've been too lenient with you. Consider this incident a lesson."

Hou Renmeng looked ashamed, nodding in agreement.

He no longer had the face to stay, wishing he could return immediately to rectify discipline.

"Oh, right, one more thing," Zhao Du'an suddenly stopped him, instructing:

"After you go back, find someone to investigate whether Xu Zudi and that Madam Xiao traveled together from Qingzhou Road, or if they met halfway."

Hou Renmeng was stunned: "Lord, do you mean…"

Zhao Du'an glanced at him, saying, "Do you think this Prince Heng's Heir Apparent is making this scene simply to support Li Lang and vent his anger? To make trouble? To humiliate me?"

In his mind, he constantly replayed everything that had happened before, recalling it.

In the room, Xu Zudi's repeated scolding of Li Lang, and the final game…

Zhao Du'an's gaze drifted into the distance, saying faintly, "We seem to have won a round, not losing face today and settling the matter, but who knows if Xu Zudi's most important goal hasn't been achieved?"

Hou Renmeng finally understood:

"Lord, are you saying that the Heir Apparent arranged this scene deliberately for you to see? The focus isn't on Li Lang at all, but on that Madam Xiao? He deliberately let us see him treating the head of the Xiao family of Donghu like a servant? Is that his real purpose?"

Zhao Du'an nodded, smiling, "It's an improvement that you can guess this much."

Hou Renmeng chuckled, flattering him:

"We've been following you, Lord, and we always learn something by osmosis, don't we? Outsiders say you're a fox of a thousand years, our skills are far behind."

"…If you can't flatter sincerely, don't force it," Zhao Du'an glared.

He dismissed his subordinates, sorted out his thoughts, and then spurred his horse to catch up with the main force ahead.

Xue Shence smiled, "Everything arranged?"

Zhao Du'an said gratefully, "Thank you, Lord, and all my colleagues for supporting me."

Xue Shence didn't want to delve deeper into the topic, laughing heartily, "How will you thank us? How about you treat us to lunch and drinks?"

Zhao Du'an also laughed, "As it should be, then we must not leave until we're drunk."

The generals watched this scene, tacitly laughing and brushing aside the interlude, heading straight for the pre-arranged restaurant with murderous intent.

The restaurant had reserved the entire second floor. The generals took their seats, eating and drinking, the atmosphere harmonious.

However, only halfway through the banquet, they heard a commotion downstairs, accompanied by heated discussions, vaguely hearing the words "Zhengyang School."

Attracting the attention of the military officers, Xue Shence ordered someone to ask about the situation.

Soon, the military officer who had gone to ask returned, his expression grave:

"Something has happened, Master Zhengyang is going to debate with Grand Tutor Dong!"

Zhao Du'an's action of holding the wine pot froze in mid-air, his eyes narrowed: "What's going on?"

All the military officers also pricked up their ears.

Soon, they learned the details of the matter.

It turned out that there was no morning court today. In the morning, Master Zhengyang entered the palace to pay his respects. The Empress and scholars such as Dong Xuan welcomed him, expressing their respect for this great Confucian scholar from the South.

However, Zhengyang issued a challenge in the palace, saying that he had come because he couldn't bear to see the teachings of the sages being distorted and the righteous path being lost.

Therefore, he came to the capital to "rectify learning and shape rituals," wanting to debate with the mainstream scholars in the capital today.

Grand Tutor Dong Xuan, as a leading figure and senior, accepted the challenge on the spot, agreeing with him to hold a debate on learning in the Meiyuan Garden in the capital five days later.

By this time, the news had gradually spread, causing a great uproar in public opinion.

The reason for the commotion and sensation downstairs was that two groups of scholars were arguing fiercely, almost coming to blows.

"Bang!"

Shi Meng clenched his fist and slammed it on the table, saying in a deep voice, "This Zhengyang is here to make trouble."

The other generals also looked indignant, mainly making a political statement, and some even shouted to kill this scholar.

Xue Shence listened expressionlessly, his eyes worried. Of course, he understood that such a "quasi-sage" level of great Confucian scholar, who attracted worldwide attention, could absolutely not be touched rashly.

Therefore, the military officers were purely talking big. Killing him was simple, but after killing him, the resulting nationwide uproar in public opinion would have immeasurable consequences.

This battlefield was without gunpowder smoke, requiring the use of words and writing as knives to counterattack.

Immediately, the generals lost the mood to eat and drink, and ended the banquet hastily.

Zhao Du'an dismounted and rode straight to the Xiuwen Hall, he needed to understand the situation!

… …

… …

Xiuwen Hall.

Zhao Du'an sensed that something was wrong as soon as he arrived at the gate.

"Lord Zhao!" The gatekeeper's clerk perked up when he saw him arrive.

"Is the Grand Tutor in?" Zhao Du'an dismounted, asking eagerly.

"Yes, he's in, they're all in."

"Good."

Zhao Du'an threw the reins away and strode inside. The clerks knew his identity and didn't stop him.

As soon as he entered the courtyard, he heard a heated discussion coming from the room.

Zhao Du'an pushed the door open and saw all the scholars in the Xiuwen Hall neatly arranged, gathered around a long table.

The Grand Tutor Dong, an old man with a face like a red date, wearing a Grand Scholar's robe, sat in the main seat, expressionless.

Beside him, on the left was Han Zhou, the number one talent in the capital, Han Banshan.

On the right was Mo Zhaorong, the big ice cube.

"Scholar Zhao? You've come!" The crowd stopped discussing, turning their heads to see that it was him, and greeted him one after another.

Zhao Du'an nodded solemnly, walking into the middle of the group of scholars in his armor, frowning and asking, "What exactly is going on? I heard that the Grand Tutor is going to debate with Zhengyang."

Mo Chou's face seemed to have the word "worry" written on it, gesturing for him to sit down before nodding:

"That's right, Zhengyang has come aggressively, he should have been entrusted by Prince Mu to come to the capital to attack the rituals and doctrines."

“Really, does everyone speak so directly now?

Not even a little bit of pretense…” Zhao Du'an muttered to himself, seeing the scholars' expressions were normal, understanding that within the Cultivation Hall, the conflict with the Eight Kings was already out in the open.

The Empress's acquisition of the throne was not legitimate; this has always been the biggest weakness in the legitimacy of Xu Zhenguan's regime.

Regardless of the twisted rhetoric promoted by the 'Restoration Society,' even if we take a step back, the whole world knows that it was the Second Prince's coup that led to the Empress quelling the rebellion.

Yet, according to etiquette, Xu Zhenguan should have sought out the remaining descendants of the royal family, whether through adoption or other means, to support a new male emperor.

But she chose to claim the throne herself, which gave the scholars an opportunity to attack her on the grounds of etiquette.

In the past three years, through the efforts of the Northern faction of scholars, led by Dong Xuan, they barely managed to gloss over the legitimacy issue by quoting extensively from classical texts.

However, outside the capital, especially in many parts of the South, voices criticizing the Empress's usurpation have never ceased.

Now, perhaps the implementation of the 'New Policies' has made the Eight Kings anxious.

Finally, one by one, they have begun to counterattack.

The Prince of Huai'an sent his daughter to test the waters, the Prince of Jing used the Taicang silver mine as a pawn to force the Li faction to split.

The Prince of Heng sent his son, with unclear intentions, while the Prince of Mu invited Zheng Yang to come out of seclusion to counterattack with etiquette.

Zhao Du'an sighed inwardly, understanding that etiquette, though seemingly intangible, was extremely crucial.

“If the name is not correct, then the words will not be smooth; if the words are not smooth, then things will not succeed,” that is the principle.

Han Zhou said in a deep voice:

“The other side has come prepared this time. He hasn't descended the mountain for ten years, and as soon as he does, he attracts the attention of the eighteen prefectures in the nine provinces of Dayu. He has been traveling from the South, seemingly low-key, but actually flamboyant, making his arrival in the capital known to everyone.

When he entered the city, he also brought more than a hundred students. He has also been making a name for himself in the city these past few days. Now that he has issued a challenge, Grand Preceptor must accept it, and only Grand Preceptor is qualified to take on this battle.”

Zhao Du'an asked curiously: “The banner Zheng Yang is flying is just academic debate?”

Mo Chou glanced at him and explained:

“It's just academic debate. Zheng Yang is very clever. He didn't directly attack the matter of His Majesty's ascension to the throne, but instead repeatedly stated that the matter was only about 'academic dispute.' This makes it even more difficult to move against him, but the world is not foolish. This academic debate, in the final analysis, returns to etiquette. If he wins the debate… it will be very troublesome.”

Zhao Du'an turned his head and looked at Dong Xuan, who had been silent, and said seriously:

“Grand Preceptor, how confident are you?”

Dong Xuan's aura was very cold today, or rather, very heavy. The wrinkles on his already furrowed face were particularly deep, and his eyes were also heavy:

“If the debate is likened to playing chess, in terms of chess skills, this old man believes he is stronger, but the opponent has taken the first move, so it is difficult to say.”

Zhao Du'an understood.

This was a euphemistic way of saying that the outcome of a debate never depends solely on the eloquence of the 'debaters,' but more importantly on the topic of the debate.

The cards Dong Xuan had been dealt were not good.

“Five days later, what will be the topic?” Zhao Du'an asked again.

Grand Preceptor Dong said calmly: “What is Correct Learning.”

Fortunately… it's not the worst-case scenario… Zhao Du'an breathed a slight sigh of relief.

The banner Zheng Yang is flying is “Correcting Learning and Shaping Etiquette.” What the Empress fears is etiquette, but Zheng Yang did not directly attack etiquette, because doing so would only force the court to go to extremes.

Although Zheng Yang has come out of seclusion, it seems that he does not intend to seek death… If Zheng Yang had directly started criticizing etiquette after entering the capital, there would only be one result.

That is to use his own death to exchange for the anger of the scholars of the world and feed bullets to Zhuang Xiaocheng's propaganda war.

But he did not choose this extreme route, but instead took a roundabout approach, only discussing “Correct Learning,” which is a layer of euphemism, giving the court the right to respond and leaving himself a way out.

After all, when discussing Correct Learning, there is still a chance of winning, and even if he loses, the damage will not be fatal.

Of course, it is only not fatal. Correct Learning and etiquette are one. If the former gains a foothold, the latter will also benefit.

“We were just brainstorming to discuss the moves Zheng Yang might make, how to win, or how to draw,” Han Zhou explained.

“You continue.” Zhao Du'an indicated that he was here to listen.

Everyone was not too surprised. They all knew that Zhao Du'an had unique insights into governing the country and seemed to have a certain level of poetry.

But when it comes to the fundamentals of Confucianism, the sayings of the sages, many classics, searching for chapters and extracting sentences… the pure accumulation of knowledge, this is not something that can be explained by "genius."

Dong Xuan and Zheng Yang are both geniuses in this area, and they have accumulated decades of knowledge and skills.

How old is Zhao Du'an?

If statecraft can come from practice and observation, and poetry can rely on talent, then the learning of the sages is purely based on decades of hard work.

This is also why only Dong Xuan dares to accept the challenge. Talents like Han Zhou dare not stick their necks out at all.

Logically, no one thinks that Zhao Du'an can accumulate more knowledge than these two. At most, everyone expects him to have some "tricks" or some "off-court moves."

Seeing that he had no suggestions, the scholars were slightly disappointed, but they resumed their active discussion, arguing loudly, the entire Cultivation Hall filled with noisy voices and a tense atmosphere.

Zhao Du'an once again sat quietly alone on the side.

Listening to everyone's discussion, it was as if he had just entered the Cultivation Hall for the first time.

In the midst of the noise, he reached out and took a thick stack of documents from the table.

He opened it.

This was actually a compilation by the scholars of the many academic insights of the "Zheng Yang School," including many quotations of Mr. Zheng Yang lecturing in Yunfu and answering his disciples, as well as some articles published by Zheng Yang.

All of them were insights and views on Confucianism, or more precisely, analyses of the words of the former sages.

At first, Zhao Du'an didn't taste anything, but gradually, his face became a little strange:

“This theory… why does it look a bit familiar? There's a hint of mind-learning mixed in with rational learning? No… this Zheng Yang's theory seems to have… a lot of loopholes.”

— —

I'm procrastinating again, it's a bit late.