noveltune Chapter 83, Brother, which side are you from?
Chapter 83, Brother, which side are you from?
"I explained to him how to do it, and he seemed quite excited."
When he returned home that evening, he sat at the dinner table and told Lu You and his wife, as well as Hong Liu, about what he had seen and heard at the academy that day.
When the conversation turned to Lin Zhou giving advice on how to fight the Jin Dynasty, Hong Liuren blushed deeply. She stood up and grabbed Lin Zhou by the collar: "What are you saying! What are you talking about! Whose side are you on? Are you helping outsiders fight the Jin Dynasty?"
"Isn't this a tactical discussion? Besides, do you think my words will make a difference?" Lin Zhou took a sip of his drink. "I said, let's see who wins the contest and becomes the boss. It's that simple."
Hongliu sat down looking aggrieved, even a little sullen, crossing her arms and turning her face away from Lin Zhou.
Tang Wan, standing to the side, chuckled, "You two are really funny, getting so worked up over such a small thing."
"Sister Wan, he's helping outsiders bully me!"
"What do you mean by helping outsiders? This is a discussion of knowledge, why are you being so unreasonable?"
"I'm not being reasonable! I'm just not being reasonable!" Hongliu pouted like a little yellow duck. "Anyway, you can't help others!"
Their cockfighting-like posture made Tang Wan laugh so hard she almost fell over. Then she gently nudged Lu You's arm: "My lord, say something!"
Lu You slowly raised his head: "I've said it, and the Song Dynasty had Qin Hui, and the Jin Dynasty had Wanyan Liang. Neither of them were easy to deal with. Brother Lin is indeed right. But as the saying goes, things are up to people. I'm certain that if Qin Hui hadn't died, this trend wouldn't have become a problem in the Song Dynasty."
"Why?" Hongliu's eyes widened, her face full of curiosity. "Brother Lu, why do you say that?"
"Brother Lin's idea is to spread the technology out, but once it's spread out, the profit margin will be thinner. Only a monopoly can make money. So if I were Qin Hui, I would choose the first method that Brother Lin mentioned."
Lin Zhou chimed in, "Hunger marketing."
"That's right." Lu You nodded and said, "What does the strength of a country have to do with me, Qin Hui? What I want to see is cash. And how do you get cash quickly? Naturally, it's by having one dominant power."
"Monopoly," Lin Zhou nodded.
Hongliu hadn't quite grasped the situation yet: "Then, Brother Lu, how about the Jin Kingdom?"
"The Jin Dynasty won't work either." Lu You laughed: "Because the Jin Dynasty is different from the Song Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, the emperor and the scholar-officials jointly governed the country, while in the Jin Dynasty, it was a family-run country. The country belonged to the imperial family, and the emperor had many sons. With many sons, some people couldn't stand seeing others get the first place."
After saying that, he dipped his finger in the wine and started scrambling on the table: "Wanyan Zongbi is currently very powerful. Most of the workshops and mines are under his control. If this door is opened, it will only strengthen the already powerful, taking away from the weak and giving to the strong. Wanyan Zongbi will inevitably become the only one in power. The Jin emperor will not see this happen to him, so he will naturally let Wanyan Liang destroy the foundation. Therefore, neither Song nor Jin can accomplish this."
Lin Zhou spread his hands: "See, you're still angry with me."
"You're not allowed to give them advice! Not now, and never again!" Hongliu grabbed Lin Zhou's arm. "Do you hear me?"
"I'm not even married to you yet, and you're already interfering?!"
Tang Wan, who was standing next to her, laughed so hard she almost disappeared: "Brother Lin, all Sister Hongliu wants is special treatment. Just coax her a little."
"No way!" Hongliu refused verbally, but she had already looked up at Lin Zhou.
Lin Zhou, a pure Sigma man, shoved Hong Liu's face away and said, "What nonsense! We have to be reasonable!"
"Hmph~" Hongliu snorted coldly and ignored him.
But President Lin doesn't care about that. He enjoys a smooth life from the moment he stops being a sycophant. Sycophants never have a good ending.
At this moment, Lu You spoke up: "Brother Lin, do you know who your Mr. Li is? And who is the headmaster?"
"I don't know, do you?"
"Yes. Headmaster Chen is the current Grand Tutor, the Emperor's mentor. Mr. Li is the son of Li Gang and Li Boji, a military general known as Yue Fei and a scholar known as Li Gang. He died in Fuzhou in the tenth year of the Shaoxing era and was posthumously awarded the titles of Grand Tutor, Duke of Longxi, and Zhongding."
Lin Zhou leaned over and asked, "Is Zhongding that awesome?"
"To risk one's life for the country, to recommend the virtuous and loyal, to sacrifice oneself for the nation, to have great foresight to calm the people, to bring peace to the people by following ancient methods, to stabilize the country through hard work, and to pacify the nation. There is a saying that Bo Ji was not demoted, and Tokyo did not fall. What do you think?"
"That's pretty awesome..."
After saying that, Lin Zhou stroked his chin: "Then what do you think? Should I have him go and request Qin Hui's execution tomorrow? Is that alright?"
"If he were capable, he wouldn't just be teaching at the academy. The entire pro-war faction has been demoted, and now Qin Hui... to put it bluntly, he should be the Ninth Prince." Lu You said in a low voice, "It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he's the only one in power."
"Only nine thousand years old? That's nothing special," Lin Zhou said with a disdainful look. "Where I'm from, I'm a ten-thousand-year-old."
"Are you an emperor too?" Hongliu asked curiously, turning her head to the side.
"Long live the people!" Lin Zhou slammed his hand on the table and laughed loudly. "What? Who doesn't have the title of 'long live the people'? Qin Hui is a thousand years younger than me."
Everyone could tell he was just joking, but thankfully the door was closed, so it wasn't too tense, and they laughed it off after a while.
The group continued eating and drinking until late at night when the dew was heavy. The women in the dining room were all removed, leaving only Lu You and Lin Zhou sitting there drinking.
As the wine flowed freely, Lu You suddenly grabbed Lin Zhou's arm and burst into tears, crying, "Brother, I have no way to serve my country... no way to serve my country..."
Lin Zhou patted his shoulder, but couldn't say anything to comfort him. He just sighed and thought of the chubby boy who had been taken away from the academy that day.
Although Lin Zhou didn't understand history, he had read so many novels that he roughly understood that the Song Dynasty had reached this point where it was no longer a matter of life and death decided by any one person. They were a system of corruption. If the emperor was killed, the civil officials would pick a four- or five-year-old boy from among the emperor's nephews to continue as emperor.
As for killing Qin Hui, the scholar-officials would quickly bring up Zhang Hui or Wang Hui, just like cancer cells, cutting off a piece and then quickly growing back.
Lu You wanted to save the nation from peril, and the only option was to build his own team, start from scratch, and climb step by step to the top, becoming Lu Gao.
But Lu You clearly wasn't capable of that. Lin Zhou? Lin Zhou was even less capable than Lu You…
"Don't worry, don't worry, it'll be alright." Lin Zhou could only pat his shoulder at this point: "Brother promises you, I'll definitely help you get rid of Qin Hui, okay?"
"Brother Lin... Waaaaah..."
"Alright, alright, you're a sword saint after all," Lin Zhou sighed. "Don't be like this, it's shameful."
"I'm going to buy some goods in a few days. When I get back, I'll figure out how to deal with Qin Hui, okay?"
"Okay~~"
"Oh dear, please stop being so sweet and coquettish."
Lin Zhou sighed. He didn't know what was wrong with these Song people. When he read Water Margin, they all seemed like tough guys. How come they all seemed to have this tendency to cry a little bit?
While Lu You was crying at Lin Zhou's place, Grand Tutor Chen Shanzhang had already gone directly to Zhao Gou, the Ninth Sister. It was obviously more cost-effective for him to talk to the Ministry of Works about trivial matters than to talk to his own disciple about this matter directly.
However, after hearing this idea, Zhao Gou looked troubled.
"Grand Tutor, I will tell you the truth, even if I wanted to, I couldn't do it right now." Zhao Gou sighed deeply. "It's enough for me to be a dying emperor. The fate of the Song Dynasty should never have been in my hands. Now that you are in the hands of the Jurchens, what can I do? Grand Tutor, please spare me."
Chen Shanzhang stared blankly at Zhao Gou in front of him, then suddenly smiled with a hint of helplessness. He just sighed and didn't say anything. He had watched the child grow up since he was a child. How could he not know what Zhao Gou was thinking?
It's not that he doesn't know how to win; he just doesn't want to win. Even if he wins, he might still be the emperor, but someone will definitely make sure he can't sit on the throne.
Chen Shanzhang cupped his hands in greeting, a somewhat helpless smile on his face, and was about to leave when Zhao Gou suddenly raised his hand but made no sound. He could only silently watch his teacher's dejected figure leave.
Chen Shanzhang arrived full of enthusiasm, believing he had found a way to save the country, but he could only leave in silence, his heart filled with helplessness towards Zhao Gou and a touch of resentment towards the Song Dynasty.
Back at the academy, Teacher Li visited that very night, eagerly inquiring, "Headmaster, how did it go?"
"Yizhi, Yizhi..." Headmaster Chen shook his head silently, looked up at the sky, and felt a deep sense of desolation.
"Is this all there is to our Great Song Dynasty? Is there no way to save our Great Song Dynasty???" Teacher Li gripped Headmaster Chen's arm tightly, her eyes bloodshot as if she wanted to devour him. "I refuse to accept this! I really refuse to accept this, Headmaster! Grand Tutor!"