The Sage of Confucianism and Taoism

The moonlight formed by "Shui Tiao Ge Tou" dissipated, but Fang Yun still remained in the study.

Fang Yun stretched out his hand, and a book that only he could see appeared in his hand, which was "Thirty-Six Strategies".

After completing the Thirty-Six Stratagems to cross the sea and encircle Wei to rescue Zhao, they absorbed the first chapter of "Han Xin Three Chapters" and derived the "Secret Crossing of Chencang".

And now in "Thirty-Six Strategies", the bitter meat stratagem actually appears, but the text is very dim.

The bitter meat strategy was originally one of the thirty-six strategies.

Fang Yun put away "Thirty-Six Strategies" and probably guessed the reason for the appearance of "Bitter Meat Strategies".

This world attaches great importance to the application of knowledge. This time I used the "bitter meat tactic" in the art of war. Even if I don't study as hard as before, once the plan is completed, it will be directly written into a book. Many soldiers in the past dynasties had mediocre experience, but because of their great achievements in military art and after being tested in actual combat, their academic status gradually improved, and eventually they became great scholars.

Fang Yun sat on the bed, thinking about the details and impact of this bitter meat plan as if he were studying classics and theories, and wanted to make the "Thirty-Six Strategies" more perfect.

Fang Yun realized that after the results were released on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, there would be some corrupt scholars criticizing him. However, since he majored in Confucianism and minored in art of war, and had such a great opportunity to punish young people without the use of military arts, he would be worse than even the corrupt scholars.

Not long after, Fang Yun heard messy footsteps outside, followed by banging on the door.

Fang Yun straightened his collar in front of the bronze mirror and walked steadily to the door. Just as he was about to open the door, he heard someone outside yelling: "You are so presumptuous that you don't even know how to knock on the door? Drag these two people to the street and block them." Mouth, a hundred lashes."

"Sir, spare my life! I thought... ah..."

Fang Yun heard the voice very familiar. The person who gave the order was none other than General Chen Xibi of Dayuan Mansion. He smiled slightly and thought that these soldiers and family members were not all reckless men. Whether it was deliberately arranged or happened naturally, he had accepted this intention. .

Fang Yun opened the door and saw a lot of torches outside, making the sound of beeping and peeling, swords and guns flashing, and the cold light piercing the eyes was painful.

The sound of whips hitting flesh could be heard from the street corners.

Chen Xibi turned over and dismounted, with an expressionless face. He held up a military order in his hand and said: "Fang Yun has received national grace and holy grace but blasphemed the holy saint. It is a heinous crime! The Queen Mother issued an order prohibiting Fang Yun from traveling until Prime Minister Wen came. ! Surround the Fang family! If anyone is missed, bring his head to see me!"

"Yes!" I saw two groups of people running away in a hurry and going around to the back of Fang's house.

After Chen Xibi finished speaking, he looked around at all the soldiers and horses, then patted his left arm, which had just grown out a few days ago, and said: "Fang Yun committed a heinous crime, as you all know, but this arm of mine was the result of eating the Shengsheng Fruit given by Fang Wenhou. Come out! As long as the imperial edict to seize the title does not arrive for a day, he will be the Marquis of Jingguo! You know what to do!"

"Yes!" All the soldiers said in unison.

The sound of whips sounded louder at the street entrance.

Chen Xibi looked at Fang Yun, the coldness on his face dissipated, he smiled slightly and said: "The emperor's orders are on my side, I can't help myself. Now that the official business is done, let's talk about private matters together."

"Master Chen, please." Fang Yun made a gesture of invitation, turned around and walked into the yard.

Chen Xibi entered the courtyard and closed the door first, then walked to Fang Yun and used his literary power to isolate the outside world.

"Is this really what the letter said?" Chen Xibi stared at Fang Yun with bright eyes.

Fang Yun's face did not change and he said: "Don't talk about it."

"That's alright. Don't be discouraged. We don't take it seriously. When I first joined the army, I was much worse off than you. I'll tell you when I have time to drink. The Queen Mother confided you in order to protect you. She said it was three I will release you in one or two years. Don’t think too much, you are Fang Zhenguo, Jingguo’s future will ultimately depend on you!”

"Thank you, Mr. Chen." Fang Yun said.

"My men are outside. They can do whatever they want. If anyone dares to be disrespectful at all, please tell me later!" Chen Xi wrote.

"Um."

"Since you don't want to say more, I'm leaving. I will take the imperial examination again on the first day of September next year! Farewell!" Chen Xibi has a military style after all, and is extremely straightforward.

"Farewell."

After sending Chen Xibi away, Fang Yun rushed to the soldiers outside the door and cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, everyone."

The soldiers returned the greeting one after another.

After closing the door, Fang returned to the bedroom to sleep. He slept until three o'clock in the morning before getting up.

Fang Yun walked out of the yard and found that there were a few more people in the yard, one of whom was the old housekeeper of his uncle Fang Shouye's house.

"Young master, are you awake? The master said that you are short of people here, so he sent us to take care of your daily life and three meals. Just tell me what you want to eat, and I will have someone prepare it for you."

Fang Yun nodded and said: "Just as usual, I don't have any taboos. You can come and go as you please?"

"You can go in, but you can't go out. People buying food can go in and out, but according to the rules, they are followed by two soldiers."

Fang Yun said: "The matter will be over on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year at most. I'm sorry to bother you."

"No trouble. In this life, there is no threshold that cannot be passed. If you fall down, get up and keep walking. You have to look forward. We Dayuan people all support you!"

"Thank you." Fang Yun thanked him with a smile.

After breakfast, Fang Yun began to read the letters. There were not as many letters today as in the past. Many people came to persuade and comfort him. Some people did not talk about giving up the exam at all, but just said some very ordinary things, just like normal correspondence. Same.

Only a few people issued letters to denounce or even criticize.

After a while, many people wrote in, accusing Cai He of being shameless and saying that he would never do that kind of thing.

Cai He soon sent a letter.

"I have already announced that I will sever my ties with you, and the voices of scolding me are overwhelming. Now many scholars and officials in Jiangzhou have actually sever their ties with me. Well, I, the people of Jing, have backbone and did not add insult to injury because you fell into a trough. Qing and Wu have indeed taken action. Many scholars have joined together to forge a letter to the people, which will soon be sent to the Holy Academy, asking the Holy Academy to severely punish you. Let them make a fuss. The more they make a fuss, the deeper they will regret!"

In addition to Cai He, Zeng Yuan, Zong Wude and others have successively sent news from the outside world, allowing Fang Yun to better understand the current situation.

After the people of Jing learned about this, except for a few scoldings at the beginning, almost everyone supported Fang Yun afterwards. Even those who scolded Fang Yun at the beginning said that it was just a small mistake and it was understandable.

The literati of Qing and Wu, who had been hostile to Jing for many years, launched verbal and written attacks. A large number of literary meetings appeared in various places. These literary meetings even required people to write poems and essays attacking Fang Yun. Ambitious people in Qing and Wu called on everyone to calm down, but only a few people were calm.

As for other countries, the reaction was not so big. None of them thought there was anything wrong with Fang Yun giving up the exam. At most, they said a few words like "young and successful".

After reading all the books, Fang Yun found that he could do nothing but read.

The books in the study had been moved away, but this did not bother Fang Yun, so he immersed himself in the world of strange books all day except eating.

With the improvement of his literary rank, the power of Wen Gong and Wen Dan, Fang Yun's reading speed has exceeded ten lines at a glance, and it is even faster in the world of strange books, almost one page at a glance, and the pages are like the wind blowing, constantly flying.

Because these books are not the classics of the saints, but various miscellaneous books, Fang Yun can read at such a speed, and with the help of Wen Dan and talent, he can fully understand the content of the book.

After reading for an hour, Fang Yun rested for a quarter of an hour, and then read again, without interruption. He did not seek to fully absorb the knowledge in the book, but only to have a preliminary understanding. With the accumulation of time, he would inevitably grow.

If he found a book very useful, Fang Yun would pick it out and find time to read it carefully after a while, trying to digest it thoroughly.

In the afternoon, Fang Yun was reading with his eyes closed. He heard a familiar knock at the door, so he went to open it.

As soon as the door opened, he saw more than 20 people in black robes standing outside the door. Each of them had mountains embroidered on their sleeves and collars. They were the black mountain clothes worn by the juren.

"Qingguo is not fun, so we decided to go back to Dayuanfu for a few days." Li Fanming smiled and waved the fan in his hand. The big rabbit rushed over with a carrot in its mouth, then stood up and held the carrot with its two front paws and handed it to Fang Yun, but his eyes were reluctant to part with the carrot.

Fang Yun smiled, touched the big rabbit's head, and said, "You eat it, I appreciate it."

The big rabbit lifted the carrot up again and refused to take it back.

Fang Yun pushed the carrot back and said, "I won't eat it, you eat it."

The big rabbit then put away the carrot, sat on the ground, and looked up at Fang Yun.

Fang Yun bowed and said, "Thank you, everyone. I am fine. Since the Queen Mother has ordered me to do so, I will not say more. When I am free again, we will drink wine together and talk about the world."

Many candidates had regrets or regrets in their eyes, but they soon returned to their smiles.

"Since you don't say it, we won't ask. The Fang Zhenguo in our hearts will not be hit by an imperial examination."

"It's hard to say about Fang Yun. Maybe the imperial examination will be hit next year."

Everyone smiled kindly.

Fang Yun was helpless. Since the self-torture plan had been put forward, he had to continue to act. He forced a smile and said, "Thank you, everyone."

Fang Yun's smile at this moment was very unnatural. Everyone thought that he had not resolved his knot. Li Fanming immediately said, "We are here to see you off! If the people of Jingguo dare to harm you, I will contact the saints of Qiguo and kidnap you to my Qiguo!"

"Our Shuguo is a good place. Fang Yun, you must think it over!"

"Or come to our Jiaguo!"

Everyone deliberately made a joke to make a noise.

Looking at this ordinary scene, Fang Yun was deeply moved. He had a thousand words in his heart but could not say them out loud, so he had to bow.

"Let's go, come back tomorrow!"

Everyone said goodbye to Fang Yun.

Fang Yun closed the door, shook his head and smiled bitterly. After the results were announced, he had to spend money and book the best restaurant in Dayuan Prefecture to entertain everyone.

The door of Fang Yun's house was surrounded by soldiers, and the state academy in Dayuan Prefecture was blocked by countless people.

The door of the examination room opened, and a large number of candidates rushed out of the door, and the relatives and friends of the candidates rushed forward at a faster speed, like two waves colliding, with a lot of noise.

"Congratulations Zhiyuan, this year's Jieyuan must be you!" Many scholars who gave up the exam flocked to Chen Zhiyuan, especially those from Minggu Prefecture.

Chen Zhiyuan saw Fang Yun passing by his examination room with his own eyes. He had already guessed what was going on, and asked in confusion: "What do you mean? Shouldn't Fang Yun, Fang Zhenguo, be the champion this year? I don't dare to compare with him in anything else except policy essays."

"Fang Zhenguo gave up the exam! What a pity, even his title was taken away."