Chapter Twenty-Three: The Opportunity

  This tall and sturdy Han man, before anyone could react, the old vegetable vendor had already been whipped several times on the head and face, with deep blood marks appearing on her face and body.

  "Damn thing!"

  "Isn't there a king's law?"

  The scholar who just spoke knew that the fellow was going to rush at him, and immediately several people came up in a rage. One of the scholars grasped the big man's wrist and angrily said: "You dare to ride your horse wildly on the street and hit someone, an old woman at that! Do you still have any sense of justice or conscience?"

  "Take him to see the official!"

  "Ask him who his master is, and we'll go together to seek justice. But let's see, relying on whose power did he dare to raise such a wicked slave?"

  After Da Ming's departure from the construction site, the literary officials gradually gained more power. Not to mention what happened in the imperial court, but even among the common people, offending a scholar was a huge trouble.

  A scholar has dozens or even hundreds of fellow students, and there are also masters and teachers who can move the whole body by pulling one hair, and provoke one person to invite a group. Moreover, nowadays scholars have parties and factions, have public opinions, pens, poems, songs, and lyrics, let alone ordinary people, common officials or military officers, they dare not provoke these scholars!

  The so-called "broken boot array" is a super-lethal killing technique, capable of blocking even the gods and Buddhas, truly making it a force to be reckoned with.

  However, just as these old gentlemen were waving their fists and shouting to stop the carriage and take this group of evil slaves to the Shuntian government office, the first one to make a move was the tall and strong man with a shaved head, who simply shook his head. After waiting for an opportunity, he sneered at those few scholars and said: "Gentlemen, you really are quite intimidating, but if my master's name is revealed, I'm afraid even you gentlemen wouldn't dare disturb him."

  "Nonsense, just sign up and come on over."

  "My family's master is none other than Old Master Zhou himself."

  "Huh?"

  The brocade-robed Han laughed loudly and said in a stern voice: "Did you hear that clearly? My master is the old emperor of Zhou!"

  "I heard it clearly... It was student Meng who did it."

  The several guards who were holding down the big fellow suddenly let go of him as if they had received an electric shock. Just now they were still full of vigor and vitality, but now they simultaneously relaxed their grip.

  "Let's go."

  The first scholar's face turned pale, he stomped his foot, but then turned around and left.

  The rest of them also remained silent, pursing their lips and following the scholar, several people walked quickly, and soon disappeared into the crowd.

  That man, seeing the situation, was naturally very pleased, and with his hands on his hips and his head thrown back, he laughed loudly: "Hmph! I said you were all fierce and formidable, but in the end you're just a bunch of useless goods, haha!"

  In the capital, the scholars dare not provoke are the powerful officials in the imperial court, and even more so, they dare not provoke the eunuchs who hold great power, because when the eunuchs get angry, they will counterattack without restriction. The case of Yin Jian during the Tianqi era is still fresh in everyone's minds, and there is already a tacit understanding that it's better not to fight too hard... The powerful eunuchs have become an existence that ordinary scholars dare not provoke, and in the Chongzhen era, there are still two families above the powerful eunuchs... They are the imperial relatives of the Zhou and Tian families.

  Tian Gui Fei was in power, the Tian imperial family's prestige and influence were truly unmatched, and no official or eunuch dared to provoke them. Now that Tian Gui Fei is dead, the imperial relatives are left with only one dominant household, that of Zhou Kui, the Duke of Jia Ding...

  Such a big shot, let alone a few Shengyuan old masters, even if the Shuntian Prefecture and the Touring Censor are here, what can they do?

  "Old beggar woman, no one is coming to save you now, are they? Look at how old and close to death you are. Grandfather won't hit you much more, just five more lashes will teach you a lesson, the sooner it's over the better."

  He drove away several xiucai, but still hadn't forgotten the old woman who had been knocked to the ground by him. This man had a face full of flesh and was strong and powerful. The vegetable-selling woman already had a head full of white hair. The few lashes she had just received had left her dizzy, and if she were beaten a few more times, she might lose her life right there.

  "Bad slave!"

  Zhu Ci Yun's teeth itched, he turned his head and said to Wang Yuan: "You go up, break both of his arms for me, each side broken into three segments, if you break one less segment, don't come back to see me!"

  Wang Yuan couldn't bear it anymore, and at this time, he burst out laughing, with a sly smile on his face, clenching his fists tightly, and replied: "Don't worry, young master, there's only more, not less, if one is missing, I'll be the one to ask..."

  Just as he was about to move forward, someone suddenly flashed in front of him and grabbed the right hand of Zhou Fu's old steward who was holding the whip.

  "How can there still be fools who dare to come out and cause trouble? Wang Gui, Lao Tang, you few, are you trying to get yourselves killed? Hurry over here and give this scoundrel a good thrashing of several dozen lashes for me!"

  Repeatedly being stopped by people, this week the lower officials of the Fu also became anxious, and before they could even turn around, they were already loudly shouting.

  Unexpectedly, no one came over. The man below only felt that his right hand was firmly grasped by someone and couldn't move. As he struggled to turn his head back, wanting to shout and curse, but as soon as he saw the person who had twisted him, his face also froze in shock.

  "Ah, it's Old Master Tang..."

  This week, the prefecture's evil slave had a tall and sturdy physique. The person holding his hand was even taller than him by more than a head, with a full head of brown hair, blue eyes, high nose, and a dense beard covering his face. This man looked ferocious, with a physique as robust as a water buffalo.

  He was wearing a Taoist robe, cloth shoes, and a headscarf, just like the typical attire of a scholar in the Ming dynasty. Just by looking at his outfit, he was undoubtedly a genuine member of the gentry class.

  "It's me," seeing the other party recognizing himself, this tall and thin man smiled slightly, loosened his hand, and said: "This old woman has been seriously injured, I think it's just so."

  Although he looks fierce, his voice is very gentle, and with a mouthful of Beijing dialect, he speaks fluently and can't hear any accent at all.

  "Master Tang, I advise you not to interfere with our Zhou family's trivial matters, otherwise it will be very detrimental to your preaching."

  These barbarians actually have a great origin, and it is said that their hometown is tens of thousands of miles away from the Great Ming. They came to China with unknown hardships, and more than ten years ago, they preached from Macau to Beijing. Later, they entered the calendar bureau to revise the calendar method, which was very successful. Emperor Chongzhen really rewarded them. The current calendar method is the one revised by Tang Ruowang in front of us.

  Apart from this, dozens of cannons were also cast. He also taught students with Xu Guangqi, including geometry, astronomy and arithmetic methods. Many scholars were willing to accept new learning, and the officials who followed him to study were not a few.

  In the capital city, this Old Master Tang is also a big shot.

  Of course, just like that, this week's Fu Nucai would not be afraid of anything, but Tang Ruowang often walked in the inner court, and many eunuchs had already believed in the teachings. Among them was Pang Tianshou, a supervisor of the imperial stables, who was a powerful eunuch and should not be offended lightly.

  Recently, there have been rumors that Empress Zhang of Tianqi also believed in the teachings and worshiped Tang Ruowang as her master. If this is true, it would be even more unbearable.

  So this week, Fu's evil slave thought he was giving good advice and didn't plan on turning against the big bearded barbarian.

  Tang Ruowang shook his head: "I'll emphasize it again, this old woman even if she's wrong, has already accepted your punishment. As the saying goes: 'When you can forgive someone, then forgive them.'"

  It was originally a small matter, but the continuous obstruction made the evil slaves of the Zhou Mansion very impatient. One of them deliberately confronted Niu Dao: "I advise Old Master Tang to take care of himself and leave, otherwise, you won't be able to enter the Zhou Mansion again. When the time comes, don't blame me."

  Matteo Ricci and others preach, now mainly in the homes of officials and nobles, after all, they have studied China's current situation, knowing that to successfully preach, they must gain support from the palace and noble families, otherwise, an imperial edict can make them abandon their efforts at any time.

  The "Nanjing Case" back then was caused by offending many officials of Confucian scholar origin, this layer, no need for people to say more, Tang Ruowang will also understand, offending the Zhou Mansion will have a severe setback on his missionary work.

  He also hesitated for a moment, and this person from the Zhou residence he also recognized, roughly being the second manager in charge of external affairs and horse-drawn carriages, with some status to speak of, saying that he could stop him from coming again wasn't entirely nonsense.

  But this hesitation only lasted for a moment, when the other person wanted to raise his hand again, Tang Ruowang stretched out his hand to block it once more. He was a man of deep faith, born into nobility yet willing to live in poverty, and had traveled thousands of miles to spread the teachings. Such a person's determination was unwavering, and although his eyes were gentle and warm, the resolute intent within them was clear for all to see, except perhaps for the blind.

  "If you want to hit someone, then hit me first."

  The evil slave of the Zhou family was puzzled: "Old Master Tang, why are you sticking up for an old beggar woman?"

  "I reflect and do not shrink, though I be poor and lowly, I am not afraid. I reflect and shrink, even if there are thousands or millions of people, I will go."

  "What?"

  "That is to say, as long as it's right, we must insist on it."

  "Hmm, okay, alright."

  It's also true that I don't dare to fight with Tang Ruowang, and besides, his territory is just here. Just a few streets away from the "Li Bureau" in Xuanwu Gate, there are many of Tang Ruowang's students inside, including some serious officials of the Ming Dynasty. Offending one of them, depending on my own identity, it's hard to say how much power Jia Dingbo can use to protect me.

  Besides, the loss in front of us is already inevitable.

  The wicked slave just sneered, cupped his hands and said: "I've learned a lesson, thank you for Master Tang's teachings today. When I get back, I'll have a good talk with the master of the house."

  Having said that, he turned around and left.

  "Having just entered the door, you've already hit someone, and now you want to leave?"

  Without waiting for Zhu Ciwen's orders, Wang Yuan strode forward and grabbed the collar of the second steward of the Zhou household, slapping him with a loud "slap slap slap" on the face.

  "You hit my grandfather... " Suddenly, this servant of the Zhou family had never suffered such a loss before. Although his face was beaten to a pulp, with blood flowing from the corners of his eyes and nostrils, he still stubbornly insisted on being tough.

  "Heh heh, this is just to whet your appetite, now let's get down to business..." Wang Yuan flashed a sly smile, grabbed the other person's arm and gave it a forceful twist... The crowd only heard a cracking sound, but saw that the guy's arm had turned pale with bone protruding out, the entire arm having been twisted off by Wang Yuan.

  "Halt! Halt!" Tang Ruowang was startled and hastily stepped forward to stop him.

  He had just stopped the evil slave from being beaten, and now that he saw the evil slave at a disadvantage, he hurriedly came forward to stop him again, his expression also very serious, without any pretence.

  "Father," Tang Ruowang was about to reach out, but Zhu Cixu had already restrained him. Seeing the middle-aged foreigner staring at him in surprise, he smiled and said: "Your teachings say not to resist evil, because you are all sinners, only God can punish and judge. However, I want to tell you what our Chinese sages have said: 'How about repaying kindness with enmity? The Master said: How do we repay kindness? We should respond to kindness with integrity, and to enmity with kindness!' For such evil people, only a thunderous move can reveal the Bodhisattva's heart... If this guy is able to end up well in the future, it will be because he remembers today's lesson. This is his rare opportunity, Father, don't bother with him anymore..."

  Saying that, Zhu Ciwen slightly raised one hand, and surprisingly made a single-handed Buddhist greeting, smiling: "Amitabha!"