Chapter 113: Merit in the Present Generation |
"I don't believe it!" Zhang Jingheng said in a deep voice, "Why would he want you to do this?"
Huang Qi said, "Because the Emperor is heavily paranoid, he said he would pave the way with his death. But if the Emperor and the powerful and noble don't feel pain, then no matter how much that knife cuts off, it won't help."
"So, he wanted me to hit harder, to let the powerful and noble feel real, tangible pain."
"I didn't quite understand it before, but watching your national policy being implemented, I realized how formidable his foresight was."
Zhang Jingheng couldn't help but step back a few paces, his face pale.
The people of the world all thought that Huang Qi's uprising was because the oppression was too deep.
Who could have thought that it was secretly funded by the Duke of Ming, Tang Shijun.
Zhang Jingheng easily figured it out; his teacher had not done wrong.
If the refugee army hadn't fought so fiercely, even with Emperor Chongming's support, how could those powerful and noble easily let the national policy be implemented.
One in the light, one in the dark, only then did it create the current general trend.
Even if the existence of the refugee army caused many innocent people to die or be injured.
But compared to the powerful and noble preying on the commoners, the lower class suffering unspeakably and wishing they were dead.
Or the Jing Kingdom perishing and various warlords fighting in a chaotic situation, it was much better.
Huang Qi sighed, "But I also have to admit, later on, many people's ambitions grew, and they forgot their original intentions."
"If you want to kill or torture me, do as you please. But if possible, don't implicate others anymore."
"The subordinates who could follow me to this day are all people who truly serve the country."
In the past, Zhang Jingheng wouldn't have listened to half a sentence of nonsense.
But now, his heart was full of shock.
A moment later, Huang Qi said, "When I die, can you send my corpse back to Pingshui Town?"
Zhang Jingheng took a few deep breaths, suppressed the turbulent emotions in his heart, and asked, "You want to return to Pingshui Town?"
Huang Qi nodded and said, "I lived there when I was young, naturally I want to go back when I die. It's just a pity that my parents' graves will probably have no one to take care of them."
Zhang Jingheng was silent for a moment and said, "Then go, see what you should see, say what you should say."
Huang Qi was stunned, seemingly not understanding his meaning.
Subsequently, a jailer came over, helped him unlock his shackles, and brought clean clothes and food.
Huang Qi's face was full of astonishment, "You are..."
Zhang Jingheng said indifferently, "The local prefect here, Song Qizheng, is my disciple. He can testify that you bit your tongue and committed suicide here."
"I shouldn't have spared you, but if you really are the second person chosen by my teacher, these years have been hard on you."
"But this matter must rot in your stomach, you are not allowed to tell anyone else!"
Emperor Chongming was heavily paranoid, and his secret spies were innumerable.
Having experienced Tang Shijun's death, how could Zhang Jingheng be foolish enough not to build up his own core team.
Fortunately, the Director of Ceremonial and Seal-Holding Eunuch Zhang Li had received many offerings from him over the years.
With him around, Emperor Chongming wouldn't notice anything unusual.
And the Top Scholar Song, who had taught Chu Xun a lesson in Fenggu City back then, actually won second place in the imperial examination later and went to become Zhang Jingheng's disciple.
More than ten years had passed, and he was already a third-rank prefect.
Hearing these words, Huang Qi had mixed feelings in his heart.
He didn't act hypocritically. While changing out of his prison uniform, he asked, "Who wrote the letter to you?"
Zhang Jingheng said expressionlessly, "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask."
Huang Qi indeed didn't ask again. After changing into clean clothes, he left the prison cell on his own.
That night, all the prisoners in this jail died.
They were originally felons waiting to be executed, so dying early or late made no difference.
As for secretly releasing Huang Qi, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision.
Only because he said the uprising was pushed behind the scenes by Tang Shijun.
Towards his deceased benevolent teacher, Zhang Jingheng had the utmost reverence, so naturally, he was unwilling to kill Huang Qi directly.
With the local prefect and some of his own secret forces helping, faking his suicide was not difficult.
Moreover, Emperor Chongming was now advanced in age, and coupled with excessive pressure, he had no heart for state affairs.
Every day he sought pleasure in the harem, and even found alchemists to refine pills to seek immortality.
Many matters were presented by the Director of Ceremonial and Seal-Holding Eunuch Zhang Li.
Releasing Huang Qi this time was also a test by Zhang Jingheng.
But he wasn't testing Emperor Chongming, but the old eunuch who had accompanied Emperor Chongming for many years.
Songliu River, heavy rain poured down.
Chu Xun stood on the bank, gazing at the river water.
The Essence of Ren Water was condensed silently, presenting a faint blue color, looking inconspicuous.
A giant python, alternating green and white, wound its way out from underwater.
After years of being fed with Essence of Ren Water, the green and white python's body length had now reached an astonishing thirty zhang, its entire body's scales like jade.
Its head bulged like a small hill, over a zhang high, wide enough to cover a house.
A pair of vertical pupils were as deep as a cold pool, and its scarlet tongue, like blood, brought a foul wind with every flick.
The green python and white python had also grown a bit over the years, but were only about seventeen or eighteen zhang.
In front of the green and white python, they instead became "little guys".
A thirty-zhang giant python was an unimaginably colossal creature.
Just casually moving its body underwater would cause turbulent waves.
"No wonder transforming into a flood dragon attracts heavenly tribulation. You already have such might at thirty zhang, when you reach a hundred zhang, wouldn't just moving cause a flood."
The green and white python opened its mouth and swallowed that wisp of Essence of Ren Water, then affectionately poked its head over to rub against Chu Xun's arm.
Fortunately, it was raining heavily at this moment, and no one could see this scene, otherwise they would be scared to death.
Patting the green and white python's head, signaling it to stay in the river.
Chu Xun turned and returned to Pinecone Village.
After he left, the rain quickly stopped.
Arriving at the fields, Chu Xun deliberately slowed his pace.
The Water Element spell and Earth Element spell were continuously cast, and the soil in the fields within a thousand zhang became much looser.
Water mist containing faint spiritual energy covered the roots.
This was the key to Pinecone Village's successive years of bumper harvests.
Having the ability, with a casual gesture, helping when he could, he wouldn't lose anything.
Entering the village, a young woman holding a baby called out to Chu Xun, "Ah Chen, going to the fields?"
Chu Xun nodded, casually replied a few words, and walked away.
The young woman watched his departing back, a trace of disappointment flashing in her eyes.
Back when Chu Xun had just regained his youth and returned to Pinecone Village, many young girls inside and outside the village had a special liking for him.
His family had money, he looked handsome, and although he had no official rank, he was educated and reasonable.
Most importantly, he also had Zhang Jingheng, the Minister of Revenue, as a relative.
If one could marry him, it would be a great thing like green smoke rising eight hundred miles from the ancestral grave.
Who knows how many people came to propose marriage to Chu Xun, but he refused them all.
To this day, no woman had been able to get into his bed.
As time passed, the girls in the village gradually grew up and married when they should.
It was just that every time they saw the thirty-something Chu Xun, although his face was much more mature, he was still handsome, and they felt even more empty inside.
What you can't get is the best, this applied most aptly to them.
When he returned to the front of his courtyard, Chu Xun saw someone standing at the door.
Hearing the footsteps, that person turned his head to look, and it was exactly Huang Qi who had been secretly released.
Seeing Chu Xun, Huang Qi's expression was somewhat complex.
After sighing, he bowed and saluted, "Ah Qiao, greets Mister Chu."
The last time he came, he was still the commander-in-chief of the refugee army.
Now returning to his homeland again, he was the Ah Qiao of the past.
Chu Xun was not surprised that he could come back alive. Huan'er had been the Minister of Revenue for so many years, implementing the national policy and pursuing the refugee army.
The number one person in the army, the Duke of Wei Liao Shouyi, was also his fellow townsman.
Coupled with the support of the Director of Ceremonial and Seal-Holding Eunuch Zhang Li, his position in the court was already under one person and above ten thousand.
Saving a life, even if this person had the grave crime of executing nine generations, was not a difficult task.
The only question was why Zhang Jingheng was willing to save him.
Chu Xun didn't ask this question immediately, but instead asked, "Where are my radishes?"
Huang Qi was stunned, only then remembering that when he left Pinecone Village back then, he said he would bring radishes for the other party the next time they met.
He smiled bitterly and said, "I've made Mister laugh."
Chu Xun pushed open the courtyard door and let him in.
Huang Qi, however, had no intention of going in, only saying, "I have no face to enter your courtyard. Coming back this time is only to see Mister once."
"Then I will go to the county school to pay respects to the Master."
"And then what?" Chu Xun asked.
Huang Qi was silent; he also didn't know where he should go.
"If you really have nowhere to go, I can get you a few mu of land in Pingshui Town to farm, but you can't be called Ah Qiao or Huang Qi anymore," Chu Xun said.
Huang Qi was silent. Chu Xun didn't persuade him much, saying, "Think it over clearly before you say, no rush."
After a moment, Huang Qi spoke up and asked, "I have a matter I want to ask Mister."
"Please speak."
"My rebellion and uprising caused many people to die, but it also allowed the national policy to be implemented smoothly. Was it ultimately right or wrong?"
In the past, he always believed he was right, that whatever he did was right.
But now, he wasn't sure.
Chu Xun said, "Do you think the Wu Kingdom's invasion is right or wrong?"
Huang Qi said without hesitation, "Of course it's wrong."
Chu Xun shook his head and said, "To us it's wrong, to the Wu Kingdom it's right. Invading bears temporary infamy, but future generations will have a vaster territory."
"This is the so-called merit in the present generation, benefiting a thousand autumns."
"Judging right or wrong by this might be biased, but in the affairs of the world, how can there be so many rights and wrongs."
"Right and wrong, merit and fault, will naturally be judged by future generations."
Huang Qi was slightly astonished. Pondering carefully for a long time, he could understand thirty percent of the reasoning, but couldn't fully comprehend it.
Chu Xun waved his hand and said, "Go, no rush, think slowly."
Huang Qi was silent for a moment, then bowed and saluted him, and left straight away.
Arriving at the county school, he didn't dare to get too close, only looking at the plaque "Apply What You Learn" from afar.
In the school, Qiao Ziyan was teaching the students.
He was a straightforward person, speaking loudly and impassionedly.
The students looked up, their faces full of reverence.
At this moment, Huang Qi watched with some envy.
He couldn't help but remember the Master once said, "If you return here in the future, you can come here to do scholarship."
Recalling all the past events, Huang Qi only felt in a trance like a dream.
His eye sockets were slightly red, and he sighed secretly.
If he hadn't left Pingshui Town back then, perhaps it wouldn't have been a bad thing.
In the courtyard, Chu Xun didn't have too many feelings about Huang Qi returning to his hometown.
To him, this was just a small experience on the road to longevity.
Worth thinking about, but no need to always keep it in mind.
Using spells to heat up the extraterrestrial meteorite iron, preparing to forge it again, the sound of horse hooves came from outside.
The courtyard door was pushed open, and a white-haired old general looked at the thirty-something Chu Xun.
After brewing for a moment, he tentatively spoke.
"Brother Xun?"
[End of Chapter]