Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 1011 Li falls into a trap
Huang Huai was naturally safe and sound. After all, he was sent back to the solitary confinement room this morning, and he stayed in the room for no more than an hour. The night before, he was kept by Zhu Su in the guest room of the government office. The accommodation conditions were much better than those of the students' dormitory in the teaching garden.

After getting enough sleep, Huang Huai's energy and spirit are even more abundant than usual.

In this state, he looked even more extraordinary compared to Li Cang, who had been tortured in the small dark room for a whole day and looked haggard and disheveled.

He also tried his best to explain to his classmates in the ordinary department that this black room was indeed uncomfortable, and advised them not to easily violate the church doctrine, so as not to fall into the hands of the teacher and be imprisoned in the black room. And because of what he said, the students in the ordinary department looked down on Li Cang even more, and incidentally, their impression of the entire elite department also fell to the bottom.

They in Annan also admired scholars, but knowledge and the imperial examination had long been controlled by the gentry. The poor and unconnected merchants, wealthy families, and commoners like them naturally had a kind of awe and fear of the nobles. They subconsciously felt that the nobles who mastered knowledge were naturally superior to them and must not be provoked. Once provoked, it would definitely bring misfortune to the family.

But when they saw that "Fan Huai" defeated a group of elite scholars and took the top spot in the teaching academy in January; and saw the sharp contrast between Li Cang and "Fan Huai" in front of the black room, their ideas were shaken.

Oh, it turns out that the so-called sons of the aristocracy who are high and mighty are just this kind of stuff.

There was a slight easing in the long-standing spiritual oppression of them by the nobles.

Seeing his classmates expressing contempt for Li Cang from the elite department, a hint of triumph appeared faintly at the corner of "Fan Huai's" mouth.

He read the books of sages and studied the principles of the Spring and Autumn Annals, but he was by no means a pedantic person. From the moment he agreed to be an undercover agent for His Royal Highness the King of Zhou, he did not hesitate to secretly instill advanced ideas from the scholars of the Ming Dynasty into these classmates.

Generals have no seeds at all, and men should strive for self-improvement.

Although some of these people may not have the courage to rebel against the nobles, as long as they can plant the seeds of yearning for the Ming Dynasty, it is enough.

Although Huang Huai was just a scholar, he had the lofty ambition to expand the territory for the country...

……

With the help of his brother Li Cheng, the depressed Li Cang returned to his dormitory. After all the trouble, he was not only physically exhausted, but also mentally devastated. When he saw the scroll on the stone table that he had prepared to show off, he became even more depressed.

When he thought of Fan Huai, he became so angry that his teeth started itching.

"How dare you bully me... Fan Huai, even if I have to use any means necessary, I will definitely make you realize how powerful my Li family is!" Li Cang thought hatefully.

At this moment, someone came in from outside and handed the letter from Fan Julun to the two brothers.

"Uncle Fan is actually in Wuqu Port?" Li Cheng was a little surprised after opening the letter and reading it. "Why is he here instead of accompanying father to fight the bandits?"

Li Cheng has always been somewhat afraid of his father, Li Jizhen, so he has been enjoying himself in the academy these days. When he heard that Fan Julun, his father's trusted adviser, wanted to meet him, he seemed reluctant.

"Well... Uncle Fan wrote to me specially, he must have something important to entrust to us brothers." Li Cang was secretly happy. He was just about to write a letter to his family and ask someone to teach Fan Huai a lesson, when he received a letter from Uncle Fan.

Uncle Fan was a close confidant of his father Li Jilin. It was a good opportunity to exaggerate the matter and tell Uncle Fan a story, asking him to tell his father to mobilize enough forces to kill Fan Huai.

Fan Huai, if you dare to mess with my Li family, I will teach you a lesson! Li Cang thought bitterly.

He hurriedly changed his clothes, washed his face with cold water, and went to see Fan Julun with his brother Li Cheng.

At this time, many merchants had gathered in Wuqu Port. The independent-minded merchants of the Ming Dynasty had already opened many taverns and warehouses in this concession. The address left in Fan Julun's letter was in an inn in the city.

"Li Cheng (Li Cang), meet Uncle Fan." Fan Julun held a high position in the Li family, and Li Cheng and Li Cang showed no sign of neglect, and respectfully greeted Fan Julun. Fan Julun did not dare to be arrogant, and stepped aside to avoid the courtesy of the two brothers, and said with a smile: "I haven't seen you for a long time, and you two gentlemen are more elegant than before..."

"Eh? Second Young Master, what happened to the wound on your face? You look a little haggard, too."

Li Cang was embarrassed. The scratch on his face was caused when he couldn't stand the torture in the dark room and cried and begged to be released. He was naturally unwilling to say it at this time. Seeing that Li Cheng seemed to want to speak for him, he glared at his brother fiercely.

"It's just a little scratch, it's okay... I don't know why Uncle Fan came to visit us?"

"Could it be that father has any instructions?" Li Cang changed the subject.

"Oh." Fan Julun's attention was indeed diverted, and he said, "Yes, there is one thing that concerns the rise and fall of my Li family..." As he spoke, he told the Li brothers about the Nguyen family's intention to make friends with King Zhou, how he came here on behalf of the Li family with gifts to compete with the Nguyen family, and the terrible consequences if the Nguyen family succeeded in making friends with King Zhou.

"The Ruan family has already realized the great value hidden behind the Great Ming Zhou King. I believe that in the future, there will definitely be many families who will realize how much benefit they can bring to their families by winning over the Great Ming Zhou King."

"On the one hand, our Li family needs to borrow the prestige of the Ming Dynasty to go further; on the other hand, we cannot let the Ming Dynasty support other families and threaten our Li family's status... Therefore, we must find ways to gain the favor of King Zhou." Fan Julun said.

"But...what does this have to do with my brother?" Li Cheng asked somewhat confused.

Fan Julun was stunned for a moment, looked at Li Cheng speechlessly, and then said: "Of course it is related. Could it be that the eldest son has forgotten why the master sent the two sons to Wuqu Port?"

"His Royal Highness Prince Zhou is a noble of the Celestial Empire and a great scholar of the new school. Even when the head of the family personally showed goodwill to him that day, he remained indifferent."

"It is undoubtedly wishful thinking to try to make him favor a certain noble family by giving him gifts. Therefore, the only way to gain his favor is to become his disciple."

"I invited you two gentlemen to come here because I want to ask you how you are doing in the academy? When can you become a disciple of His Majesty King Zhou?"

As soon as he asked this question, the atmosphere became awkward. Zhou Wang Zhu Su had already announced that only those who ranked top in the monthly exam would be favored by him and accepted as his disciples. Li Cheng ranked outside the top ten in this monthly exam, and he had even completely forgotten about it. Now that Fan Julun asked about it, he naturally looked around and didn't dare to look directly at him.

Li Cang showed a look of resentment in his eyes, and said to Fan Julun: "To be honest with you, Uncle Fan, I almost got the favor of His Royal Highness King Zhou the other day, but I didn't expect a stumbling block to appear halfway, causing Cang to fail..."

Fan Julun widened his eyes and immediately asked Li Cang what was going on.

Therefore, Li Cang exaggerated and told Fan Julun the story about "Fan Huai" with some changes.

"You mean, a student from an ordinary family, surpassed you, the second young master, and took the top spot in just one month?" Upon hearing this, Fan Julun was stunned and called it unbelievable.

"Yes." Li Cang said. Many people had seen the rankings of the monthly exam, but he couldn't hide it. He was "forced" to speak out the shame of losing to the peasants. Li Cang gritted his teeth in shame and anger. "Uncle Fan, how could these peasants have a chance to pass the exam better than us, the nobles? It must be that Fan Huai cheated, but the teaching academy did nothing about it."

"Uncle, if we continue to let this happen, won't Fan Huai take away our chance to become Zhou Wang's disciples?"

"Please ask my uncle to tell my father to use the power of the clan to deal with Fan Huai. In this way, I will be the top of the teaching academy and will definitely be accepted by King Zhou in the future, making King Zhou an important figure in the Li family."

"Hmm," Fan Julun pondered. He didn't care much about the little fights of the young people in the academy. The Zhou King of the Ming Dynasty wanted to teach everyone, and the nobles just let it go. Just relying on a Zhou King who was destined not to stay in Dai Viet for a long time could not shake the foundation of their nobles and aristocrats in Dai Viet for a hundred years.

However, he did not think that the so-called "Fan Huai" must have cheated to get to the top. There are still "child prodigies" and "scholars" in the world. These people have photographic memories and can draw inferences from one example. It is not impossible that they can get the top score by chance after studying for a month.

However, to be the top scorer in one month was indeed too impressive. If it weren't for this person, the second young master would have a high chance of getting the attention of King Zhou with the title of the top scorer.

The rich political resources behind Zhou Wang's disciples, which represent the influence of the Ming Dynasty, are too important...

"I will explain this to the head of the family." Fan Julun said. "However, Fan Huai has only been studying for a month, so maybe he was lucky to get the top spot."

"Your Highness Prince Zhou will not accept me as his disciple based on just one monthly test. You still have a chance, so you should perform well."

"If we rely on the power of our family to attack this person, His Royal Highness Prince Zhou is not a mediocre person, and he may suspect our Li family." Fan Ju said. "If we end up making things worse and force His Royal Highness Prince Zhou to the side of the Ruan family, then the gains will be greater than the losses."

It would be best if King Zhou could accept the second son as his disciple. Even if he could not, accepting Fan Huai, who was not from a noble family, would be much better than accepting the children of the Ruan family or other noble families.

Li Cang was disappointed, but he dared not comment on Fan Julun's judgment, so he could only bow and agree. Fan Julun once again urged them to study hard and win the position of Zhou Wang's disciples for the Li family, and then sent them back to the academy.

"Come here." As soon as he sent the Li brothers back, he immediately found a servant of the Li family and gave him an order.

"Hurry up and send someone to check who this Fan Huai is from."

Fan Julun's vision is not that narrow. If Fan Huai is the person who is most likely to be accepted as a disciple by King Zhou, then why not win him over...

……

"Your Highness. Fan Dahai reported that someone has been secretly targeting him." In Wuqu Port, Sanbao reported to Zhu Su who was reading a book.

"Hmm? The action is quite quick. It seems that there are still some wise and strategic people in Annan." Zhu Su said with a smile.

Fan Dahai was one of the Jinyiwei who had sneaked into Annan a few years ago and collected information for the court in Annan. He also provided a false identity for Huang Huai and played the role of "Fan Huai's" father. Jinyiwei were always meticulous in their work, and Fan Dahai did have a son named Fan Huai.

Jinyiwei was a hereditary system, so his son was also a Jinyiwei. In order to give Huang Huai a fake identity, the real Fan Huai was secretly sent back to Ming Dynasty, and Fan Dahai also found a reason to move to Annan. After moving, Huang Huai seamlessly replaced Fan Huai's identity and was placed under Fan Dahai's name.

As a member of the Imperial Guard, Fan Dahai's anti-reconnaissance capabilities are beyond words, not to mention that he had Zhu Su's order, so as soon as someone started to investigate him, he immediately discovered it and reported it to Zhu Su.

"It seems that, as Fifth Uncle expected, some Annan noble family has set their sights on Zong Yu." Li Jinglong said to Zhu Su with a smile. Their arrangements for Annan would naturally not stop at the small fights in the academy, but would follow Huang Guan's previous suggestion to have Huang Huai infiltrate the noble families, influence or even manipulate the actions of some key noble families, so that the political situation in Annan would be on a path that would be beneficial to the Ming Dynasty's recovery of Annan.

"Fan Dahai had sneaked into Annan several years ago. The identity we arranged for Zong Yu has no flaws. If they want to investigate, let them investigate. Let the Jinyiwei follow the clues and find out which Annan noble family has such a keen sense of smell." Zhu Su said calmly. He originally thought that it would take until he really accepted "Fan Huai" as his disciple before these noble families would start to notice the existence of "Fan Huai", but he didn't expect that it was just a monthly test, but someone would actually set their sights on "Fan Huai".

He originally thought that these nobles would place their hopes on their group of useless playboys and hoped that he, the King of Zhou, would accept those arrogant playboys as his disciples.

Even if Huang Huai was not there, Zhu Su would never accept these playboys and ruin his reputation.

After just a brief investigation, he no longer looked at those hopeless elite students seriously.

"Your Highness, if the people who came to investigate are from the Li family, should we teach Zong Yu to join the Li family?" Huang Guan on the other side hesitated. "Zong Yu's top spot seems to have offended Li Cang, the second son of the Li family."

"If we let him go to the Li family, he will probably be ostracized by Li Cang. Moreover, with Li Cang interfering, I'm afraid Zong Yu will not be valued in the Li family. Besides, haven't you accepted Zong Yu as your disciple yet?" Huang Guan said.

(End of this chapter)