Obviously Fan Zhanghou had a card up his sleeve; he had already prepared a bellyful of drafts, without any pause to ponder, he spoke tirelessly, "The previous two deaths were the current Son of Heaven's funeral matters. Right now Liang Mang's war and pacification of Guangling are the most urgent matters at hand. During his lifetime, Zhang Julu made enemies on all sides; three of his mortal enemies were the Imperial Family's nobles, the influential family's civil officials, and the local military generals. These three had been suppressing their monstrous resentment toward the Grand Secretary Daren. For the past twenty years, the Imperial Family's clansmen had lived like rats on the street. At first, they originally thought that when the late Emperor Zhao of Li Yang unified the world, they were all meritorious officials, plus they were surnamed Zhao, so naturally they could share the country with the Emperor. Unexpectedly, Xu Xiao and Zhang Julu, two people, one civil, one military, took all the credit. How could they bear it? With Zhang Julu, this roadblock, standing in the imperial court for one day, how could those aristocratic family's officials have the chance to stand out among their peers one day? The more selfless Zhang Julu was, the more difficult it was for this group of people to obtain benefits for their clans. At that time Zhang Julu wanted to make a bold and decisive move to control the officials, the salt administration, and the transport of grain, three things, bumping into each other. The old Shangshu of the Ministry of Works did not hesitate to offend the Grand Secretary Daren to stand up for him and obstruct him from within. Who did the old Shangshu stand up for? Naturally it was for the civil officials of this large group of clans who were entrenched in the local areas. The struggle between civil and military officials is the usual practice of the previous dynasties. Zhang Julu could rely on his skill to settle the arrogance of the Party and government, but using Guangling's Jing Nan's overt plot, seizing the opportunity to continuously weaken the vassals and suppress the military, Yan Zhenchun, Yang Shenxing, several major vassal kings, all became chess pieces whose strength was damaged. Those generals who held military power in their hands could not bear it. The Emperor killed the evil man Zhang Julu, letting the three factions vent their resentment, it could be said to be killing two birds with one stone. Afterwards, the new Son of Heaven appeased the people, it could be said to be killing three birds with one stone. "
Huang Longshi's expression was calm as he said, "This is also death. But there's one thing you didn't tell me. The reason for this death is that if Zhang Julu is removed from office when he's at the peak of his power, then the three enemies of Zhang Julu who have been holding grudges against him for a long time can be considered to have vented most of their resentment. Anger is easy to vent but difficult to gather. In the future, if they want to fight with Green Eyes again, it will be difficult for them to have the determination to fight to the death. If they fight with Green Eyes with this mentality, even if they have the support of the new Emperor, they will still be easily defeated by Zhang Julu, and the Green Party will be divided and conquered. "
Fan Zhanghou said solemnly, "This disciple understands!"
Huang Longshi reached out to grab the few remaining radishes. He glanced at his disciple who had won the title of Buddha in the chess world and asked, "That's it? Compared to your Xiao Shidi in Xiang Fan City, the difference is too great. "
Fan Zhanghou smiled and said, "It's one thing for Zhang Julu not to form his own clique and cut off his own wings, but he also deliberately parted ways with his biggest helper, Tantanon, completely reducing himself to a loner. If not for this, how could those ignorant scholars have the guts to throw the letter of accusation in front of Zhang Julu's door and fish for compliments? This scene was exactly the same as when a scholar with a scholarly title had to scold Xu Xiao for being a butcher. If Huan Wen stood firmly by the Grand Secretary's side, forget about this group of hot-blooded scholars, even Jin Sanlang wouldn't have this kind of boldness. Without Huan Wen, Zhang Julu will die again. "
Huang Longshi declined to comment, he only changed the topic. Squinting his eyes, he looked at the salt and the bowl of rice, and said with a laugh, "A famous scholar's romantic life is full of anecdotes. These anecdotes circulating among the imperial court and the common people are just like the scholar's salt. Just eating plain white rice is tasteless, you won't die, but you lack that kind of essence, qi and spirit. Earlier, when Liyang was located in a remote corner, where the military towns stood in great numbers, all day long the scholars were bullied by the martial artists until they were half dead, naturally there was not even a fart of anecdotes. Bi Yan 'er was indeed extraordinary; in just one short Yonghui, there was already the Hanlin Academy's guard at the Yellow Gate who fell asleep drunk, the Son of Heaven personally draped a fur coat over her, Tantanon was warming wine in the forbidden area, discussing the world with a pot of wine. That's why I say, although the scholars of the world still have their knees bent, their waists can finally straighten. "
Fan Zhanghou raised his head and glanced at the books sprinkled by the sunlight, sighing with emotion. "The memory of a stray dog wandering from place to place when I was a child is still fresh in my mind. Those generals stationed at the checkpoint only recognized gold and silver, making things difficult for me everywhere is one thing, but what I found most difficult to let go of was when they used their spears to lift up the book chests. The chests full of books, the lifeblood of scholars, were scattered all over the ground, wantonly trampled on. I think a world where books can safely bask in the sun is a good world for us scholars. "
After sighing with emotion, Fan Zhanghou took a deep breath and said, "Zhang Julu cheated in the imperial examination, his eldest son embezzled fertile land, and the local clans and people fought over benefits. The evidence of his crimes is conclusive …"
Speaking to this point, Fan Zhanghou laughed bitterly and said, "What a funny 'evidence of his crimes is conclusive'. The latter two should be true, but if you say that Zhang Julu leaked the exam questions, I'm afraid everyone would find it absurd. Regardless of what the truth is, together with the Han family tragedy that implicated the old Grand Secretary, this is another death. "
Fan Zhanghou's hands clenched into fists and rested on his knees, vaguely a bit angry. "If that's all, then that's that, but among the ten great crimes, there's actually the matter of colluding with the border army. Colluding with who? Tilting half the country's taxes to build the eastern front to resist Beimang, that was the outline of the country established by the late emperor. What crime did Zhang Julu commit? "
Huang Longshi shook his head and said, "This crime is the most cryptic. You guessed wrong, this crime isn't about Gu Jiantang, it's about Beiliang. Of course, there was also the intention of knocking down Gu Jiantang's hundreds of thousands of border soldiers in passing. After Zhang Julu took power, it seemed like he was advancing step by step, doing his utmost to suppress Beiliang's Xu family, but in reality, that was all on the surface. The benefits that Beiliang's border army should have obtained didn't decrease. If it was someone else who became the Grand Secretary, the Imperial Court might be in a foul mood, but at the very least, Beiliang's side would suffer even more. This is Zhang Julu using the loss of the relationship between ruler and subject as the price, exchanging for a hidden stability for the dynasty's northwest. This, of course, is death. "
Fan Zhanghou was stunned. He then stood up, facing the north, he gave a heavy bow of respect.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
