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

Chapter 1012: Learning the Arts of Literature and Martial Arts, Goods and the Imperial Family

"That's why." Zhu Su said with a smile.

"Since his own offspring could not obtain the status of my disciple, Li Ji'e would settle for the next best thing and try to win over my other disciples to gain my support. Li Ji'e has great ambitions and will certainly do whatever it takes. He will not let his son's personal likes and dislikes affect his own decision-making."

"After Fan Julun met with Li Cang and Li Cheng, someone went to investigate Zong Yu's background, which is enough to show that the Li family has already thought about using Zong Yu. But you are right. Zong Yu is not my disciple yet. If he surrenders to the Li family at this time, it will only make the Li family look down on him. Maybe they will even ask him to find a way to give the top spot to Li Cang... This is not in our interests."

"We can't let Zong Yu surrender to the Li Clan at this moment... or rather, we can't let Zong Yu surrender to the Li Clan on his own initiative."

"Instead, it was the Li family who begged, flattered, visited Zong Yu three times, and welcomed him with open arms to 'invite' him to the Li family."

"In this case, they will naturally pay more attention to Zong Yu."

Zhu Su said, shaking the folding fan in his hand.

Everyone looked at each other in confusion. Huang Guan asked, "The Annan nobles place great emphasis on family background. Zong Yu is just the son of a merchant, not even as good as a commoner. How can the Li family treat him with courtesy?"

"Simple." Zhu Su said calmly. "Just let Zong Yu continue to attack the two sons of the Li family."

"Ah? This..." Huang Guan was stunned. "This... Zong Yu has offended Li Cang now. If he goes undercover in the Li family in the future, it will be disadvantageous. Your Highness wants him to continue to offend?"

"This, this won't make us enemies for life and death? After all, Li Jizhen is Li Cang's father. How can he be so magnanimous?"

"Yes, Fifth Uncle... Having offended the son of the Li family so much, will the Li family really take the initiative to win over Zong Yu? Isn't this pure masochism?" Li Jinglong asked in confusion.

"You are right. Li is really a servile person." Zhu Su smiled maliciously. "Anyone with a different mindset will endure what ordinary people cannot endure. Even if it is just a pretense, they will act respectful and humble."

"As long as I accept Zong Yu as my disciple, the great benefits Zong Yu will bear will inevitably make Li Jizhen eager to make a move."

"Zong Yu is the bait we have thrown. Since Li has already noticed Zong Yu, there is no possibility of rejection."

"Besides..." Zhu Su gently closed his folding fan. "Zong Yu's hidden chess piece has begun to play its role."

"These Annan people have fallen into a trap."

……

After returning to the dormitory for general students, "Fan Huai" was welcomed like a hero. Many general students gathered around him and kept congratulating him for his achievement of winning the first place.

Even though several days had passed since this incident, students from the general subjects continued to compliment "Fan Huai" about this incident, and many people began to gather around him. He had become a representative figure of the general subjects.

"My fellow classmates, I am ashamed, ashamed, I am just lucky..." Huang Huai, who goes by the pseudonym Fan Huai, kept being humble.

"Brother Fan, why should you be so modest? You have won the first place in our school, which is a glory for our general subjects! What is there to be ashamed of?"

"Brother Fan is a man of great talent, why are you so modest? Apart from other things, at least, you are much more talented than those dandies in the elite department who only know how to be arrogant because of their family background but actually have no talent. I want to laugh when I think of the look on that day of the Li family."

"What kind of talent do they have? They are just a bunch of idiots. Have you forgotten that a dark room scared Li Cang..."

"Ha ha ha ha……"

The scholars of the general subjects surrounded "Fan Huai" and were walking towards the Xingtan where the class was being taught. "Xingtan" was the largest hall in the teaching garden. Today, it was the history class taught by Huang Guan himself. The ancestors said that history is a mirror and reading history can make people wise, so whether it is the general subject or the elite subject, history must be studied. This class is also a rare large class where the general subject and the elite subject are combined. Of course, although it is combined, the two sides are still clearly divided. The center of the Xingtan where the class is taught is always like the boundary between Chu and Han, leaving a large no-man's land.

The teachers mostly turned a blind eye to the increasingly tense atmosphere between the elite and ordinary subjects, and as long as it did not affect the students' daily studies, they just let it go.

A group of ordinary science students surrounding "Fan Huai" were talking when they saw Li Cheng, Li Cang and others walking towards them. As if they heard their ridicule of Li Cang, the group of elite science students looked gloomy and walked straight towards "Fan Huai". The ordinary science students beside "Fan Huai" immediately stepped forward to stop them: "What are you doing? Do you want to cause trouble in the academy?"

Li Cang's face was as gloomy as water. He stared at those ordinary students and said in a gloomy voice: "You are a bunch of mud legs. If you kneel down immediately and kowtow to me to apologize, I may forgive you this time."

"What did you say?" One of the ordinary scholars' face darkened, and he said, "Everything I said was true. You and Brother Fan were detained together, but Brother Fan remained calm and composed, while you were in a state of disgrace. This was witnessed by hundreds of my classmates in the school."

"I'm just stating the truth, why should I apologize to you? If you were a man, you wouldn't have cried that day! You've lost face yourself, how can you have the nerve to ask us to kowtow and apologize?"

"That's right, you're embarrassing yourself, and you still want to shut up the public?"

"You don't even know the saying that it is more difficult to guard against the people than to guard against the river, and yet you are still speaking nonsense here."

"You are so arrogant. I really don't know where the books of sages and wise men have been. Your character and mentality are not as good as Brother Fan's. You can't even pass the exam as well as Brother Fan. There is a huge gap between us..."

Everyone whispered their accusations, and Li Cang's face darkened. Finally, he could no longer bear it and shouted, "Enough!"

The ordinary scientists were startled and looked at him.

"So what if he can pass the exam better than me? The purpose of studying is to become an official. Can Fan Huai become an official?" Li Cang raised his face with a look of contempt.

"He may be able to achieve some success in this academy. But in my Great Vietnam,"

"Without Bao Wen, can he participate in the imperial examination in Dayue?"

"Not only Fan Huai, you, you, you, and you all..." He pointed at the noses of ordinary scholars one by one and said sarcastically: "You can't pass the imperial examination! What's the use of studying?"

His words actually saved the situation instantly, making the faces of the ordinary scientists turn ugly.

The recommendation document was a major requirement for the Annan imperial examination. During the imperial examination, the Annan court would check the recommendation documents provided by the students, which were issued by officials. This requirement was originally intended to ensure that the students were of good family background, but later on, it gradually became a powerful tool for the gentry to exclude students from the lower classes and control the upward channels.

Although the Annan court did not explicitly order that students must provide a guarantee, students without a guarantee were already tacitly expected to be dismissed. Basically, Annan officials would only issue a guarantee for their own children, and the guarantee became a proof for examiners to distinguish the origins of students during the imperial examinations, so that other non-aristocratic children whose families had no officials were directly blocked from the imperial examinations.

Of course, this is not the only way the nobles control the officialdom... But the well-known Bao Wen is enough to become a stumbling block for all ordinary scientists who have no one at home.

Seeing that he had made these ordinary scientists become eggplants hit by frost, Li Cang felt very happy. He pushed aside the ordinary scientists who were speechless in front of him, walked up to "Fan Huai" and said, "Brother Fan, although you are also a peasant, I, Li Cang, am not a jealous person."

"As long as you are willing to accept my Li's recruitment, my Li can still arrange for you, Brother Fan, to be a shopkeeper or housekeeper. This will be enough to ensure that you will have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of your life."

"My Li family sincerely offers this, Brother Fan, please consider it carefully."

As he said this, he patted "Fan Huai" on the shoulder in a condescending manner and turned to leave. He certainly didn't want to let "Fan Huai" go easily, but being in the public eye and being able to gain some verbal advantage was enough to make him happy for a while.

Behind him, "Fan Huai" looked depressed, but couldn't help but reveal a hint of laughter: The nobles of Annan are so corrupt, and this Li family son is really domineering... But he helped me a lot.

Huang Huai thought with amusement.

The students in the general department were all confused during this class. Normally, they were very enthusiastic about learning, but today, many of them looked depressed. After Mr. Huang left, they returned to the courtyard where they lived in the general department. They sat in silence for a long time before one of them asked blankly, "Brother Fan."

"You don't... you don't really want to be the Li family's housekeeper, do you?"

"How is that possible!" Someone immediately stood up and rebuked the person who said this, "Brother Fan is so talented, how could he become a servant of the Li family!"

"That fellow Li Cang is clearly humiliating Brother Fan! How can scholars like me endure such a great humiliation!" Thinking of the miserable family situation that "Brother Fan" had told them, his words suddenly became less confident. He turned around and asked Fan Huai, "Brother Fan, tell me something. You are not really willing to humble yourself and become a housekeeper, are you?"

As the saying goes, the prime minister is a third-rank official. The head of the Li family, Li Jiyi, is indeed the prime minister who is second only to the emperor in Annan. Although it is a housekeeper position like a house servant, many people are eager to get it. He is really worried that Fan Huai will not be able to resist the temptation and become a house servant of the Li family.

With a "bang", a student at the edge punched the ground hard, and blood was flowing from his fist.

But he was still full of anger, and said indignantly: "The government is in chaos, the nobles control the government, and a mere playboy dares to speak threatening words to a virtuous person in the open world... Is there still justice in this world?"

"Brother Fan, we cannot tolerate this kind of people! We should be strong and not be intimidated by such a playboy!"

This indignant student was called Le Loi, the son of a merchant. Although his family had some wealth, his status was not advantageous.

Because he had been exposed to some books at home and was studious, he was the only student of general science who performed well in the last monthly exam except for "Fan Huai". Therefore, he had gathered some popularity in the general subject and was one of the leading figures in the general subject today, along with "Fan Huai".

This man is heroic, chivalrous, and has a certain level of knowledge. Even in Huang Huai's eyes, he is a rare figure among ordinary people.

Moreover, Huang Huai also knew that His Royal Highness King Zhou had personally ordered that more attention should be paid to Le Loi.

"Of course not. Li Cang wants to humiliate me, I will not accept his conditions and humiliate myself." Huang Huai said. Then he sighed and said: "Although this is the case, it cannot be denied."

"What Li Cang said is indeed true. Even if I can get the top score now, what can I do?"

"Once I leave this academy and Wuqu Port, I won't even be able to get a certificate of protection. Even if I did, I wouldn't be able to pass the imperial examinations as well as the children of the noble families."

"When we study, we only want to use our knowledge to govern the country and bring peace to the world, and create a peaceful and prosperous era. But now... people say that if you learn the arts of literature and martial arts, you can sell them to the emperor."

"But this belly full of treasures is destined to have no one willing to buy them."

"I guess in the end, I will just end up wasting my life..."

After saying this, he began to sigh.

Everyone was silent, and a depressing atmosphere spread again. How could they not know the corruption of the Annan government? Occasionally, someone would mutter something like "the current situation is not good" or "the treacherous ministers are in power", but they would quickly stop talking because they were reminded by their classmates. However, it made the atmosphere even more depressing.

"Is there no way for us to have a chance to come out..." Li Li said angrily.

Seeing that the atmosphere was right and the time was ripe, Huang Huai sighed heavily again.

Then, he whispered in a low voice that everyone could hear: "If I could be born in the land of Ming Dynasty, or if I were born a hundred years earlier..."

"Then..."

"Ugh!"

He sighed heavily again, and this sigh, like a heavy hammer, hit everyone's heart again.

"Born a hundred years earlier? What difference does it make?" Li Li asked puzzledly.

"If we were born a hundred years earlier... we would be descendants of the Chinese..." Huang Huai said while shaking his head and sighing.

Everyone was shocked, and the historical story of the lecture just now emerged in their minds.

What is described in that story is the historical facts that Annan experienced when it was subordinate to China during the Han and Tang dynasties.

"Forget it, forget it. It's just wishful thinking and nonsense after all... I should be content to receive the teachings of His Royal Highness the King of Ming, Zhou." Huang Huai shook his head and said, "My fellow students, please do as you please. I'm going back to my room to rest first."

After saying that, he stood up and left on his own, leaving behind only a desolate figure who felt his talent was not appreciated.

"Ah, Brother Fan, please do as you please..." Everyone stood up and saw him off, but their faces still had different expressions. Li Li watched Huang Huai leave, but what Huang Huai had just said was still echoing in his mind.

"If I had been born a hundred years earlier..."

These words had taken root in his heart without him realizing it.

(End of this chapter)