The Third Part Serving Chapter 5 Tai Xue Er

  Da Da's new book "The Face-Changing Warrior" is great just by its name, and it's even better when you read it.

  That young girl wore a white dress today, with a branch of jasmine in her hair and no other adornments. In the sunlight, she looked even more lovely and charming, truly "a lotus flower emerging from clear water, naturally without carving or polishing".

  A group of Confucian scholars were originally annoyed by the rude remark "a group of ridiculous bookworms", wanting to find the person who made this big statement to reason with them. But when they saw that it was a beautiful young girl, the temperament of bookworms is to cherish and pity beauties, as the saying goes "there are beauties like jade in books". Reading books is for the sake of fame and beauty, how can one turn against beauties? Immediately, they put away their anger and showed off their elegance.

  It's just that the literary and the moral should be clearly explained, otherwise wouldn't it be losing face in front of a beauty? At this point someone said: "This young lady is wrong! In the past, Confucius didn't ask about agriculture, but thought that people each had their own duties, scholars should have the world in mind, how could they be limited to the trivialities of farming?"

  Although these few sentences were brief, they quoted classics and raised their own value, immediately bringing a burst of applause. The scholar nodded his head and made a four-sided bow, just as he was feeling proud, when the girl said something that almost made him spit out blood: "What do you mean? I don't understand."

  Gao Jian couldn't hold back his laughter, bursting into loud guffaws. He thought to himself, "You bunch of old, poor scholars look down on me? Now you're the ones who are embarrassed!" Gong Sheng heard Gao Jian's laughter and felt even more humiliated, almost losing his composure and wanting to rush over to ask the girl if she was pretending to be stupid or really didn't understand.

  Zhao Mingcheng became acquainted with this tribute student, and seeing him being ridiculed by Gao Qiang, naturally wanted to speak up for him: "May I ask this young lady, why did you just say that we were idle talk about national affairs?" You can't understand what others are saying, so you might as well ask your own question.

  "That girl said coldly: 'What you're talking about, fighting and killing, I don't know anything about it, nor do I want to know. All I know is that when a war breaks out, the imperial court will increase taxes, Uncle Shi will have to take the rice he grew to the market to sell for money to pay taxes, Aunt Qi next door will have to take her family's silk to the government market to offset the money the government paid in advance for silk fabrics at the beginning of the year, my father will have to work all night cutting lacquer and then go to the market to peddle it, exhausting himself to death just to pay the taxes to the government, only then will those tax officials not come to beat people up or arrest them!'"

  The Confucian scholars looked at each other in dismay, they spent their days buried in books, these folk miseries were unheard of, and for a moment they couldn't make a sound.

  Zhao Mingcheng shook his head and said, "No! State affairs are the greatest benefit to the world. All citizens of our great Song Dynasty should work together with one heart and one virtue. Moreover, paying taxes to the imperial court is the right path for the common people. Your relatives and friends have also made efforts for the king's affairs, why do you still harbor resentment?"

  This official article made even Gao Qiang secretly shake his head, let alone the young girl. She raised an eyebrow and said: "The right path? In the past few years, Qiūzhì from next door could still sell some of her own silk to make a profit, but now with all the wars, taxes are constantly increasing, and the government is urging us to pay quickly. The merchants in the market take advantage of this to lower their prices, so every time before rent is due, the price of silk and grain plummets. A year's hard work sometimes isn't even enough to pay the taxes, what kind of right path is this?"

  She became more and more agitated, her voice growing louder: "Even so, as long as we can eat a stable meal, we ordinary people will endure. But in the past two years, Jiangnan has used a lot of money, one coin is three times heavier than before, and it's said that it can be exchanged for ten coins, isn't this obviously deceiving people? In our county, Official Cao knew early on that the imperial court was going to issue new currency, so he collected all the copperware and loose change in the county and privately cast a large number of new coins. When the imperial court's new currency came out, he released his own coins at the same time, earning a profit as vast as the ocean. But how could we ordinary people have known this? We only saw prices rising day by day, while the silk and grain in our hands became less valuable every day. For the sake of fighting in the northwest, people in the neighboring village have already sold their children, can you still say that this is the right way?"

  For the tribute students who are full of poetry and books all day, such a life of the common people is unheard of. At most, it's just reading Liu Zongyuan's "The Snake Catcher" or Bai Juyi's "The Charcoal Seller" in their spare time, and then sighing and praising the prosperity of the current dynasty, surpassing that of the Tang Dynasty, with the people living a life of peace and happiness, and the wise emperor surpassing the Three Dynasties. Who would have thought that such a beautiful girl would say something she didn't know about?

  Deep in his heart, however, he was suddenly enlightened: it turned out that these people had come here just for this ten-tael silver! He remembered that historically, at this time, there were indeed officials who petitioned to stop using this silver, on the grounds that its circulation led to soaring prices and stagnation of trade. Moreover, since this ten-tael silver was implemented by Cai Jing, Zhao Tingzhi was now abolishing all of Cai Jing's policies, so he was naturally delighted to take advantage of the situation and bring this matter to a successful conclusion.

  History only records the imperial court's decisions, but not the petitions of ordinary people. Therefore, even though Gao Lüe was a powerful man who knew past and future, he couldn't guess the intentions of these several men under Fang La at that time.

  These thoughts flashed through his mind, and Gao Gang immediately found himself in a dilemma: what action should he take now? Now that this girl had come into contact with Zhao Mingcheng, as long as this Master Zhao had some political brains, he would make a big deal out of this matter of the ten-cash note, and Cai Jing's already precarious position in the court would become even more embarrassing; but this ten-cash note was indeed an unorthodox thing, only to cope with the temporary financial difficulties, using the current words called deflation, unexpectedly used the means of inflation, although it was a relief for the time being, it caused great damage to the people's economy, if he could effectively suppress its circulation, it would be a good thing for the country and the people.

  After some careful consideration, the most pressing task at hand is to gain the trust of this young girl. If we can grasp the actions of these people, then we will have a basis for our next move. The official thought about this and immediately burst out laughing, saying: "Miss, you are absolutely right! You are truly a noble person who has not forgotten your worries about the country, I admire you! This time, if the imperial court can make some corrections based on what you've said, it will be a great merit!"

  As soon as this statement came out, Lu Fangweng's famous saying was indeed extraordinary, and the gaze of the scholars towards Gao Qiang immediately changed. Who would have thought that this young master could also speak eloquently, and wasn't just a good-for-nothing? Even the girl looked at Gao Qiang with different eyes now, previously she wouldn't even glance at him, but now she was willing to take a closer look. However, judging from her expression, she probably still had thoughts like "this rogue can speak nicely, but he's not necessarily kind-hearted".

  Feeling the change in the gaze of the people around him, Gao Gang immediately felt a little proud, thinking that he had been deceived by the protagonist who was good at boasting and deceiving people. Unfortunately, he returned to the Song Dynasty where talents emerged in large numbers, and all the good words and phrases had already been written by others. He never got the chance to show off his face, but today he finally got a chance to vent his anger.

  The lady smiled and said, "This matter is probably unknown to the imperial court. If it were known, the current emperor would not sit idly by while the people suffer. Although I am not talented, my father is the current Prime Minister Zhao. Since taking office, he has been rectifying all the unreasonable and cruel policies of the previous Prime Minister Cai. If this matter is true, I am willing to speak to my father about it, and immediately abolish the ten big coins."

  The girl's face lit up with joy as soon as she heard this: "You're actually Young Master Zhao? This is great! My brothers are visiting the Prime Minister's residence today to pay their respects to your esteemed father. If you, Young Master Zhao, could put in a good word for us with your respected father, we would be eternally grateful."

  Gao Jian saw that the situation was not good, and compared the situations of both sides. He himself was clearly at a disadvantage. Zhao Mingcheng was the son of the current ruling party's leader, and in terms of the prince's party hierarchy, he was higher than Gao Jian. Moreover, he was a student of Taixue, and his reputation was many times better than Gao Jian's - this point could almost be ignored, as there were probably only a few people here whose reputation was worse than Gao Jian's. The most important thing was that this matter was precisely one of Zhao Tingyi's party's governing policies. If the girl didn't follow Zhao Mingcheng, it would be suspicious of her cognitive abilities.

  Seeing the girl lead Zhao Mingcheng back to find her own brother to discuss, Gao Nei had no choice but to comfort himself in his heart: after all, this matter also occurred in history, Cai Jing's copper cash was indeed a disturbance that caused public discontent, and he was just following the natural course of events, which could be considered accumulating virtue.

  Suddenly, someone beside him said: "High official, I've heard a lot about you in the past. Today, I finally understand that rumors can be intimidating and three people can make a tiger. I was rude to you just now, please forgive me."

  This man's voice was loud, and when he spoke, he stood close in front of Gao Qiang, startling him so much that he quickly turned his head to look. He only saw Zhang Suoyun standing beside him with his hands clasped together, speaking. Seeing that Gao Qiang had been startled, he looked embarrassed and said: "I was born with a loud voice, and I always unintentionally disturb others without realizing it. I hope the official will forgive me."

  At this moment, all the scholars saw the beauty leave, and they were all somewhat disappointed, and gradually dispersed. There were no more people gathered around Gao Qiang, only this loud-voiced young scholar was talking to him. Gao Qiang had just seen Zhang Suoyun speak several times, and he was indeed a loyal and kind person, and he also had some good feelings towards him, so he said: "Brother Zhang is too modest, it's actually I who am unlearned, and I'm afraid I've made you all laugh."

  Zhang Suizhuan repeatedly said he didn't dare: "The last sentence you just spoke, 'Though of low position, I do not forget to worry about the country' is really a good poem, it speaks directly to my heart. If all scholars in the world were like you, our great Song dynasty would surely be able to exert its influence for ten thousand miles and restore the prosperity of the Han and Tang dynasties."

  Gao was startled, this man's courage is quite large. Nowadays, everywhere is singing and dancing in celebration, but he dares to sing a discordant tune so openly. It's unknown whether it's just a simple enthusiasm or intentionally testing himself, which requires careful handling. Immediately putting on a smile, he said: "Brother Zhang is overpraising, nowadays the Holy Emperor is on the throne, the four seas are peaceful and the people are rejoicing, how can Han and Tang be compared to this prosperity? Brother Zhang's words are likely biased."

  That Zhang Yun still had to say, Gao Qiang remembered the girl who took Zhao Ting away and what she did afterwards. He didn't want to pretend to be polite with him anymore, so he casually said a few words like "I have something important to attend to, I'll come back another day to drink with my brother" and bid farewell.

  One side went back, and Gao Qiang ordered Shi Xiu to continue to closely monitor the movements of the young girl and her group. If there were not enough people, he was to call Zhang San and others to help keep watch for all twelve hours of the day. All expenses would be covered by the Commander's office. Shi Xiu naturally obeyed and went to make arrangements.

  A few people returned to the mansion, Gao Qiang sat alone at a stone table in a small courtyard, drinking wine and secretly pondering the current situation.

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