jdhmnovel Chapter 161 As expected of Zhu Chongba's son-in-law!
Chapter 161 As expected of Zhu Chongba's son-in-law!
Watching the departing figures of the two filial sons of the Chang family, Magistrate Yang couldn't help but sigh. He turned to Lame Five and said, "Lame Five, what do you think Chang Pingzhang would do if he knew that half of the Little Dragon Rice Balls that His Majesty bestowed upon him were stolen and given to me by the two young masters of the Chang family?"
The lame man shifted almost imperceptibly to the side, and said with a bitter face, "Has the county magistrate forgotten what Chang Pingzhang did before following His Majesty? His things are not so easy to take, let alone the imperial gift of Little Dragon Dumplings."
Yang Shaofeng hummed in agreement, then looked at Limpy Five with anticipation: "When Brother Limpy Five goes to Chang Pingzhang's place, you definitely won't mention the Little Dragon Gang to him, right?"
Limpy Wu paused slightly, then asked, "Should I go to Chang Pingzhang's place?"
Yang Shaofeng said, "After Doctor Yang and Doctor Wang have prepared the prescriptions, Brother Limpy Fifth will have to take these prescriptions to Changpingzhang's army and stay there for ten days to half a month until all the prescriptions have been tested before returning."
After being told that by Magistrate Yang, Lame Wu almost collapsed on the spot.
Is this something a human being could do?
Marriage, marriage, sir!
You asked Liu Sanshier and the others to prepare for the wedding of my lame five and those brothers. They were almost done with the preparations, and the wedding was about to be on the agenda. But then you said you wanted me, lame five, to go on a long trip.
Good heavens, carrying a huge pile of medicinal herbs from Ningyang County to Shanxi, it must take a month to get there.
Then I'll stay in Shanxi for ten days or half a month before coming back.
Even if we don't need to bring the medicinal herbs back, and it only takes ten days to get back to Ningyang County, it will still take two months in total!
I've been a bachelor for so many years, and I'm about to get married, but you, Magistrate Yang, want me to leave home for two months!
But then he thought that going out for two months wasn't a big deal. It was better than Kong Xixue and the other unlucky guys who were schemed against by the county magistrate, right?
In fact, the problem for Kong Xixue, who was tricked by Magistrate Yang, was not whether he was in pain or not, but whether he wanted to die but dared not.
The reason I want to die is that there is no hope of achieving enlightenment in books such as the "Hongwu Great Dictionary" and "Hongwu Zhengyun".
Just like when Li Shanchang and others were compiling the Hongwu Dictionary, the scholars gathered by Kong Xixue would often argue endlessly about the pronunciation, definition, and examples of a single character, and they might argue for a whole day without finishing the revision of a single character.
The Hongwu Zhengyun is simpler, but it cannot be compiled separately. It must be compiled in sync with the Hongwu Dictionary. The overall progress cannot be accelerated. Moreover, Emperor Zhu Chongba had already said that he would confer the title of Duke Yansheng on Kong Xixue when the Hongwu Dictionary and the Hongwu Zhengyun were completed.
Damn it, if this keeps dragging on, will I, Kong Xixue, still have any hope of inheriting the title of Duke Yansheng in this lifetime?
The reason why Kong Xixue dared not die was that Emperor Zhu Chongba had summoned Kong Kezhong and his son Kong Xilu from the Southern School to the capital and put them in charge of compiling the Hongwu Encyclopedia!
When this news came out, the entire Northern Sect was thrown into chaos, and even Kong Xixue's father, Kong Kejian, could not suppress it.
For the Northern Branch, it didn't matter whether Kong Kejian or Kong Xixue inherited the title of Duke Yansheng, but in any case, the title of Duke Yansheng could not fall into the hands of the Southern Branch.
Once the title of Duke Yansheng falls into the hands of the Southern Branch, the Northern Branch will have to face the question of who will manage the Confucius Temple and Confucius Cemetery. At the same time, the Northern Branch will have to give up the land of Qufu to the Southern Branch. In the future, the many preferential treatments given by the court will also be given to the Southern Branch first, and the Northern Branch will only be able to pick up some corners that the Southern Branch does not want.
With so many interests involved, the Northern Branch, while unwilling to relinquish the position, naturally wanted to understand the reasons behind it all, why Emperor Zhu Chongba had been delaying in bestowing the title of Duke Yansheng upon Kong Xixue, and why he had suddenly summoned the Southern Branch.
Then, the people of the Northern School turned their attention directly to Kong Kejian and his son Kong Xixue.
If it weren't for your indecisiveness, Kong Kejian, allowing Kong Xixue to contact the Ming army while claiming to be observing mourning for Hu Yuan, how could Emperor Zhu have delayed and refused to directly confer the title?
If it weren't for the conflict between you and your son Kong Kejian and Kong Xida, how could the Northern Branch have left such a bad impression on Emperor Zhu?
If you, Kong Xixue, hadn't repeatedly expressed your dissatisfaction with that Magistrate Yang, how could Emperor Zhu have possibly summoned the Southern Branch to compile the "Hongwu Encyclopedia"?
It's important to understand that although both the "Hongwu Grand Canon" and the "Hongwu Great Dictionary" contain the character "典" (dian), and the "Hongwu Great Dictionary" even has one more character than the "Hongwu Grand Canon," the fewer characters there are, the higher the prestige. The "Hongwu Grand Canon" is clearly superior to the "Hongwu Great Dictionary," okay?
In short, all this messy trouble is your fault, father and son.
To safeguard the interests of the Northern Branch, even if Kong Kejian and his son wanted to die, they had to finish repairing the "Hongwu Dictionary" before they died, and wait until Emperor Zhu conferred the title of Duke Yansheng upon the Northern Branch before they could die!
Thus, Kong Xixue found himself in a state of wanting to die but not daring to.
Sometimes Kong Xixue even thought about simply giving up the title of Duke Yansheng and going to the countryside to buy a few acres of land, and then living a life of farming and studying.
Or simply throw the newly compiled "Hongwu Great Dictionary" (300-odd characters) in the faces of those in the Northern Sect, let them see how difficult it is to compile the "Hongwu Great Dictionary," and then whoever takes over will have their title of Duke Yansheng given to them.
Unfortunately, Kong Xixue couldn't even do that.
After arriving in the capital, the scholars invited by Kong Xixue to help compile the Hongwu Dictionary discovered that the dictionary was an unfathomable project, and that it was impossible for them to complete it in just a few years. So they began to call on their friends and recruit more scholars.
If Kong Xixue suddenly abandons his post and leaves, what about the scholars he has gathered? And what about the friends these scholars have invited?
"Neither able to die nor able to live."
"We can neither advance nor retreat."
Kong Xixue looked up to the sky and sighed, "Kong Xida, Kong Xida, why did you provoke that madman Yang!"
Compared to Kong Xixue, who was facing a life-or-death dilemma, Emperor Zhu Chongba was in a very good mood recently.
If it were possible, Emperor Zhu would like to hold Magistrate Yang's hand right now, call him "my dear son-in-law" affectionately, and then take Magistrate Yang to Li Shanchang and Liu Bowen for a stroll.
"Look, look, this is our good son-in-law. With just a little trickery, not only are you being treated like cattle and horses, but even the Tartars far away on the grasslands will suffer eight lifetimes of bad luck!"
"Oh right, and the Semu people too, they'll suffer the same fate as the Tartars!"
"No wonder he's Zhu Chongba's son-in-law!"