The Sage of Confucianism and Taoism

"The Queen Mother sent someone to send me a letter privately, saying that when I come to Beijing, I must remember to go to the palace to pay my respects." Li Wenying said.

"I remember." Yang Yuhuan's fair face flushed. She didn't expect that she was just a child bride, but she would have the opportunity to meet the Queen Mother.

In Jingguo, the Queen Mother is the idol of almost all women. When the previous emperor was alive, she was the mother of the country and often did good deeds. She was deeply loved by the people of Jingguo. After the death of the previous emperor, she stabilized the court situation. The Queen Mother is still less than 30 years old.

Several people at the table looked at Fang Yun, then looked at Yang Yuhuan, who was not very talkative, and shook their heads gently. It stands to reason that Fang Yun, with his status, must marry a lady from a noble family as his principal wife.

Fang Yun smiled at Yang Yuhuan without any disdain.

Li Wenying continued, "The Queen Mother said that those ordinary gold, silver, jewelry, silk and satin will be rewarded according to the rules. As for other things, Fang Yun has seen everything since he returned from the Holy Ruins, so I won't reward you anything. When you go to the capital in the future, go to the king's inner treasury to choose something."

People from other countries are fine, but the people of Jingguo took a breath of cold air. This is a treatment that even the top scholar can't get, because only when the people of Jingguo are promoted to university scholars can they enter the king's inner treasury to choose things.

"Thank you, Queen Mother, for your grace." Fang Yun said.

"As for other rewards, they are routine matters. You will know when the time comes. They are not worth mentioning." Li Wenying said.

Prefect Dong said, "It's not worth mentioning to you, but for us, they are probably extraordinary treasures. Those tributes will surely be sent in like water, and there will be no shortage of cultural treasures."

Li Wenying said, "By the way, there is a pair of Wenbaoqinzither in the gift list, saying that it is to wish you two a harmonious qinzither."

"The Queen Mother is really thoughtful." Feng Zimo said.

Fang Yun asked: "What else was discussed at the court meeting besides discussing my reward?"

"Just your reward alone has made all the officials worry about their hair turning white, so how can they have time to talk about anything else." Li Wenying said.

Zeng Yuan on the side said: "Now that we have talked about the promotion, let's talk about this gambling game. Fang Wenhou, this matter has become a big deal."

"What happened?" Fang Yun asked.

"Mr. Meng bet on a frost-patterned iron mine in the ancient land of Shihan."

Everyone's eyes widened.

"You didn't lie to me, did you? The Mr. Meng you are talking about is Meng Qinglin from the Mengzi family?" Fang Yun asked.

"In the whole world, besides him, which Second Master Meng has the Frost-patterned Iron Mine in the Shihan Ancient Land?" Prefect Dong said drunkenly, "To be disrespectful, is he crazy? That's Frost-patterned Iron Mine! The reason why our human soldiers can fight fiercely with the monsters without being one-sided is that in addition to the powerful war poems, those iron armors and sharp blades are more important. The armor and weapons of our human race are mixed with Frost-patterned Iron, which allows ordinary soldiers to kill monster soldiers and injure monster generals. It is one of the most important supplies for the human race. The ten countries are competing to buy it, donating it to the Holy Academy and even get military merit. If the Kong family has it, they would not be willing to bet on a Frost-patterned Iron Mine, right?" "Frost-patterned Iron Mine is only in the Shihan Ancient Land, and it is completely controlled by the six sub-saint families. The royal families of the ten countries and other semi-saint families can't even get the slag, and can only exchange various resources for Frost-patterned Iron. I don't believe it was done by Second Master Meng." Yang Yuhuan looked at Fang Yun with some curiosity. She had heard of Frost-patterned Iron, but she didn't know the value of Frost-patterned Iron Mine. Fang Yun explained in a low voice: "The king of Qi once wanted to exchange a state for a frost iron mine, but was rejected by the sub-sage family."

Yang Yuhuan understood instantly that a frost iron mine was equal to one-fourth of Jing State!

Zeng Yuan smiled and said: "I am just relaying the facts. As for what Mr. Meng thinks, I don't know."

Everyone fell into deep thought. This is an important signal. The second person of the sub-sage family took action, which was actually only nominally different from the head of the Meng family. There was no difference in essence.

Fang Yun smiled and said: "If there is a chance, I will treat Mr. Meng to a glass of wine."

Li Wenying said: "It is Mr. Meng who treats you to a drink!"

When the two said this, everyone immediately understood. Mr. Meng did this, which was obviously supporting Fang Yun, but he would not bet on a frost iron mine. However, the hatred between Fang Yun and Xun Ye was caused by the dispute between Mencius and Xunzi on whether human nature is evil or good. Although the Meng family helped Fang Yun before, they did not support him, which seemed unkind.

Now, Master Meng is betting on a frost-patterned iron mine, just to tell the world that the Meng family is willing to use a frost-patterned iron mine to support Fang Yun, and they don’t care even if they lose!

However, some people chuckled afterwards. There was a story that the frost-patterned iron mine was exchanged for a state, and now Fang Yun chose to suppress a state with his writing. No one would believe that Master Meng did not satirize the Xun family.

Suddenly, Zeng Yuan’s smile froze, and then he looked down carefully and said, “The Xun family and the Meng family are betting against each other. What they bet is not the frost-patterned iron mine, but the Bingmu Lake, which is more precious than the frost-patterned iron mine.”

“Crazy! It’s all crazy!” Prefect Dong kept yelling.

Fang Yun heard about Bingmu Lake for the first time and asked, "Is this Bingmu Lake a place where ice wood is produced? I've read in books that in some ancient places, strange water freezes, and the ice grows like a giant tree, and then grows into ice wood. Ice wood is tough and hard, not easy to wear, and is a top-quality material for making mechanisms. The city defense equipment of Liangjie Mountain used to be often damaged, but after those easily worn parts were replaced with ice wood, they could fight for three consecutive months without breaking." Most people here also showed doubts, and their expressions were very similar to Fang Yun's. Zeng Yuan nodded and said, "Yes, it is a lake that produces ice wood. You haven't been to the Holy Academy, so you don't know much about this kind of thing. I have seen Bingmu Lake once. The ice in the lake grows like a tree, with ice as branches, frost as leaves, and snow as flowers. It is beautiful."

"I'm afraid all the families in those research institutions will be excited." Fang Yun said.

Zeng Yuan said with a smile: "Look, things obviously started because of Fang's luck. Fang's luck was not good, but he just wanted to watch the fun. Let me tell you, you can't stay out of it now! Because this bet was initiated by me, so I have already We have negotiated with the people from the All Saints Family. If you lose, you will be paid the normal compensation. If you win, anyone who bets on you to become a world master will give you half of the proceeds."

Fang Yun was stunned for a moment and said: "Yuhuan, please do the math quickly. An Bingmu Lake is equal to a state. There are almost a hundred counties in a state. How many counties is half a city?"

"Five county towns." Yang Yuhuan answered honestly.

Others present laughed, and Li Wenying said angrily: "No wonder I call you Mad King! The outcome is uncertain, so you are busy counting money!"

Only then did Yang Yuhuan understand and looked at Fang Yun with a smile.

Nunu stuck her head out of the table, raised her head, and barked twice at Li Wenying.

"Okay, even your little fox is against me. Where is Yuhuan?" Li Wenying was usually a stern bachelor, but now he showed a kind smile.

Seeing that Li Wenying was happy, Yang Yuhuan pursed his lips and smiled and said: "We women don't understand these big principles, but our family knows everything about astronomy and geography. It's nothing to write sixteen war poems handed down from generation to generation." Difficult matter."

Li Wenying laughed and said to everyone: "Look at this family."

Feng Zimo said: "Jiangzhou is under the rule of Mr. Li, so the people of Jiangzhou naturally want to learn from Mr. Li."

"That makes sense!" Magistrate Dong smiled.

Zeng Yuan raised his glass and said: "Here, let's have a toast to Mr. Li, a toast to Marquis Fang Wen, and a toast to the Jiangzhou people who dare to speak out and do what they do!"

Everyone roared in response, raised their glasses and drank it all in one gulp.

As soon as Fang Yun put down his wine glass, he realized that Zong Wude had sent an urgent letter from Hongyan.

"No! Our Zong family is going to bet on your failure to become the master of the world! Something is going to happen! I heard that the Xun family is also betting on your failure! It seems that the Za family is collectively betting on your defeat!"

The smile on Fang Yun's face disappeared. He really didn't expect that it was just a small gambling game at the banquet, but it would involve so many saints and families.

Fang Yun frowned and thought something was wrong. It was absolutely impossible for the Saints Family to place such a big bet just for the sake of a joke in the wine shop. It was very possible that something happened that he didn't know about, and he became the trigger of the incident. Could it be that Saint Yuan Will mainland China’s “luck bet” have the same meaning as the butterfly effect?

The people present were either Jinshi or experienced Juren. When they noticed that Fang Yun's expression was wrong, they immediately fell silent.

Zeng Yuan suddenly said: "The Zongsheng family made a bet. The sixty-seventh city in the ancient land of Huangcheng failed."

There was a deathly silence in the room.

"Things are really big." Feng Yuanjun said slowly.

Chen Zhiling said: "Grandpa has just decided that our Chen family will bet the 63rd city against the Zong family."

Chen Zhiling's eldest grandfather is the head of the Chen family, a half-sage family in Jingguo, and half-sage Chen Guanhai is in seclusion to recuperate.

At this moment, the loudest sound in the room was the breathing of everyone.

Nunu rolled his eyes, quickly retracted his head from the table, lay down on Yang Yuhuan's lap, and then stretched out his paws to pull the little meteor who was still watching the fun at the table back under the table.

Zeng Yuan sighed: "I didn't expect that it was just a small dinner party, but it turned into the greatest gambling game in history."

Fang Yun said: "It's better to resolve it this way than to kill him and make him a river of blood."

"It would be best if it could be resolved." Li Wenying said.

The atmosphere in the room became heavy.

Magistrate Dong coughed slightly and said: "No matter which side you are on, since all the saint families have come to the table to bet, we don't have to be so cautious. The conflicts between each family do not last for a year or two, and some even For more than a thousand years, it’s good to take advantage of luck.”

"Like Duke Jianmei said, it's best if it can be resolved, but it would be bad if it cannot be resolved. However, now, no longer than a few years ago, the All Saints Family can only resolve it in this way. Zeng Yuan, where is your Zeng family?"

Zeng Yuan smiled helplessly and said, "I don't know yet. They say that our Zeng family is helped by the Legalists, but the Holy Way within the Legalists is not unified."

"Yes, your Zeng family is also having a hard time." Fang Yun said.

Legalist semi-sage Shang Yang studied under Li Kui. Li Kui's teacher was Zeng Shen. Zeng Shen also had another disciple, Wu Qi, who was as famous as his grandson. Zeng Shen was the son of Zeng Zi, and Zeng Zi was a disciple of Confucius.

Mencius's teacher was the grandson of Confucius. The Zeng family should help the Mencius family no matter what, so naturally they could not have close contacts with the Xun family.

Zeng Shen worshiped the half-saint son Xia Ji Buzi as his teacher, but Buzi's family had enmity with Sun Bin's family, and Sun Bin had killed the strategist and scholar, and now the strategist's family was accepted by the Za family.

The contradiction between the Zajia and the Confucian and Mohist schools was even deeper. Lu Buwei once shouted a slogan when he was young, "Combining Confucianism, Mohism, and Legalism." Although he did not mention it later, it has always been the highest philosophy of the Zajia to integrate Confucianism, Mohism, famous schools, and Legalism.

Now, the Zajia want to unite with the barbarians to deal with the monsters. It was going smoothly, but was blocked by a young man from Ji County.

Fang Yun felt a headache when he thought of this. The relationship between the All Saints Family was intricate and extremely complicated.