Chapter 56: Confronting Ruo Bin Wang Across the Air

  Liu Jingxian slowly ground the inkstone in his hand, while another figure sat restlessly with his hands behind his back, muttering to himself.

  "Chancellor, you're overdoing it! What kind of logic is this? What kind of logic is this?"

  The person grinding ink looked up and smiled: "Brother Guo, don't worry"

  Both were prime ministers of the current dynasty, and together with Pei Yan in the cabinet, the three naturally took Pei Yan as the leader. Guo Shen's personality was more casual than the other two, and he had some similarities with Cheng Wutong, who was far away in the border area, intimidating the Turks.

  Kuo Shih-chü heard this and raised his head saying: "That woman..."

  He had just opened his mouth when Liu Jing waved his hand to interrupt him. He knew that Guo Shou had always been a bit reckless with his words, but this was not in someone's mansion, this was still in the Great Ming Palace.

  Guo Shou raised his head and saw the situation, shaking his head, pushing Liu Jingxian away, "Don't bother anymore, if we continue to bother, we will go see Zheng Gong!" (Note: referring to Wei Zheng)

  Liu Jing furrowed his brow and said: "Now that Pei Gong is no longer here, you and I should behave ourselves."

  Just as the two were talking, another two people walked over. The leading one was elegant and charming, it was Wu Zetian, and the one behind her was naturally Tang Guan.

  At this time, he was expressionless, with a hint of gloominess, and the palm print on his face had not faded yet, looking somewhat comical.

  The two chancellors simultaneously said in a low voice: "Pay respects to the Empress"

  Wu Zetian glanced at the inkstone on the table, saw that there were already ink marks, and it seemed that the two of them had listened to her instructions. She said: "The two gentlemen have worked hard, Patient Lang, come here."

  The two were taken aback by this title, they had been in the palace for many years and knew that this woman was unpredictable, but unexpectedly, this personality trait deepened after seeing Tang Guan.

  Previously, he had trampled on Tang Guan's dignity, and although there were only two people present, it had made Tang Guan lose face completely, as if serving a mistress. But now, Liu Jingxian's attitude had changed to being fervent, and a hint of deep meaning flashed in his eyes, as he lowered his head and remained silent.

  Tang Guan walked over, having done such a shameful thing, he was no longer afraid of Wu Zetian making things difficult for him, after all, it was just a dead letter.

  "What instructions does the empress have?"

  "Lang, look at the two chancellors who are grinding ink for you. This fine ink is a perfect match for a talented scholar like you."

  "You..." Guo Shili almost couldn't hold back his patience and spoke out loud, fortunately it was only a faint sound in his throat that was barely audible.

  "This small study is quite exquisite, sick prince, you can write something for me." Wu Zetian said as she sat down, the tea on the table was changed according to the time, although Wu Zetian rarely came here, the palace maids still did not dare to slack off.

  Wu Zetian picked up the fragrant tea on the table and took a sip, her red lips lightly touching.

  Tang Guan walked up to the case and asked in a low voice: "May I ask what the Empress wants me to write?"

  Wu Zetian put down her teacup slowly and opened a hidden compartment on the nearby shelf, revealing a piece of cloth lying quietly inside. She picked it up and tossed it in front of Tang Guan.

  "Take a look yourself."

  Tang Guan saw that the fabric was like a piece of cloth corner material, and also saw faint red characters, slightly startled, immediately picked it up to observe.

  "Lu Bin Wang!" Tang Guan recognized it at a glance, and to his surprise, it was the "Discussion on Wu Zetian's Surrender" written by Lu Bin Wang. But what shocked him even more was that this was a letter written in blood!

  "This doesn't seem right, there's no such original version in history!" Tang Guan flew back to his memories, and it seemed that he had never heard of such a bloody letter.

  Although the handwriting on this paper is a bit sloppy, it's not hard to see the writer's pen power. It seems that it was written with finger pointing, which is quite difficult.

  The imperial edict Tang Crown has already read it, and under a glance of ten lines, what is seen is only the difference between this original version.

  "It's not much different, indeed, Wu Zetian is thinking! ... " Tang Guan suddenly raised his head, just as he thought of a guess, Wu Zetian spoke: "Patient Lang, Luo Guang wrote with blood as ink and wrote a good article"

  Tang Guanmu stared straight at Wu Zetian without blinking, and after a long while, Wu Zetian spoke up: "I don't want you to write with blood either. Write a 'Discussion on the Rebel's Surrender' for me instead."

  "As expected!" Tang Guan thought to himself, his brow furrowing as he realized that in Wu Zetian's eyes, his value lay only in his talent, and now the top priority was to put an end to the suppression and calm the people's hearts.

  Xu Jingye had tens of thousands of people following him, all because of Luo Guangzhao's article and the old acquaintance in the camp. He suggested sending a large army to suppress them, even if Xu Jingye had three heads and six arms, he couldn't defeat Pei Yan, who had spent his whole life on horseback, let alone the fact that their military strength was fundamentally mismatched.

  This suppression should have ended long ago. It seems that Pei Yan intentionally delayed it, and Wu Zetian finally couldn't bear the thought of it. She is thinking of using his own way against him.

  Tang Guan lowered his head and pondered unceasingly. Wu Zetian looked at him and said softly, "Since he wrote the blood book, it must not take long. This incense stick will burn out soon, I want to see your article."

  Tang Crown raised his head to look at the incense burner on the left, where one of them had just been lit. The person who wrote the bloody book would not have spent more than a stick of incense, after all, they had to bandage their wounds immediately. However, Tang Crown, even with countless books in his heart, did not dare to confirm how long Lu Binwang had taken to write this article that had been passed down for thousands of years.

  At this moment, even if he made something up, there was some helplessness to it.

  The two chancellors were initially stunned on the spot, and then looked at Tang Guan, only to see that his face was actually covered in cold sweat.

  "This woman is really crazy!" Tang Guan had guessed in the palace that she wouldn't give him an easy time, and sure enough, she immediately threw a big problem at him.

  "Get well soon, write carefully, once you've finished writing, I'll heavily reward you, and your whole family will be rewarded too."

  Tang Guan picked up his pen and responded with a "yes", but still didn't dare to start writing.

  The two chancellors exchanged a glance, and Liu Jing was even more shocked in his heart. The Empress Dowager actually used a nine-year-old boy to counter Ruo Binwang!

  Tang Guan had never met Lu Zhaolin, but he could see the man through his writing. Later generations recited most fluently none other than that "Gaggle of Geese".

  At this moment, Tang Guan finally collided with the famous literary giant in history. The only advantage of Tang Guan was that he had the literary foundation of later generations' literary giants.

  "Go to the illness, the official covers the masses with a roof, and the official covers himself with a roof..."

  "But for ordinary people, there is no right or wrong..."

  "Before you lies a battlefield where comrades-in-arms slaughtered each other, and it is also the path you must take."

  Pei Yan's words suddenly echoed in Tang Guan's mind, and he suddenly understood why Pei Yan had delayed. He seemed unwilling to create more killing karma, this was a civil war, regardless of winning or losing, those tens of thousands of rebel troops would hardly escape death.

  The incense had burned halfway, and under this tense atmosphere, Guo Shixiong's gaze towards Tang Kuan suddenly became regretful. He knew that Tang Kuan couldn't write it out anymore. The book "Lu Bin Wang" shocked the world, and it must have been carefully planned for a long time before being written in one breath.

  Even if Tang Guan had the greatest talent in the world, even if he were a reincarnation of a sage, it would still be impossible for him to write such an article in this confined space. Wu Zetian's intention was clear: she wanted Tang Guan to sing her praises and embellish her achievements.

  The incense was slowly burning down, less than half left, Wu Zetian was not in a hurry, just quietly gazing at the Tang crown.

  After a long time, Tang Guan gritted his teeth and wrote "Fu Chao's Memorial", which read: "If not I, the Son of Heaven, who will prosper? If not I, the Holy Mother, who will shine? With virtue but no one to carry it out, the country will perish; without virtue but someone to carry it out, ***, at this time when the country is in chaos, I write this article..."

  Tang Guan stopped writing and picked up the blood book, taking a look at it. On it was written Wu Zetian's various actions that were almost impossible to deny as chaotic and disorderly.

  Tang Guan had no choice but to avoid the strong and attack the weak, since Ruo Binwang was stirring up trouble from top to bottom, he would do the opposite, first praising Wu Zetian and then undermining her from the bottom up.

  Fortunately, Xu Jingye was not a man of great virtue, compared to Wu Zetian he was naturally inferior and could not be counted in the same league. At that moment, Tang Guan took up his brush and wrote: "The spirit of Taizong is majestic and solemn, the heavens are mournful and sorrowful, the Emperor has passed away, and the people are in a state of panic. The country is facing difficulties, and a lone man is being arrogant. The Empress Dowager deceived me about the ancestral temple, built my national foundation, Heaven responded to her mandate, and all the people were at peace. In reality, there was no one like her before or after, the rise and fall of the world depended on this one dynasty."

  "However, the robbers are on the road, deceiving the people of my generation, blocking the heavenly corridor, doing things that risk their lives, indulging in temporary madness, disregarding the people of the world, and ignoring the rivers and mountains. This is a big mistake of abandoning the fundamental and pursuing the trivial. Assisting Zhou to tyrannize and indulge in pleasure, plotting with the tiger to take its skin, when the world prospers, the people suffer, when the world declines, the people also suffer. Continuing to observe the prosperity of the affairs of all families, why do we need to pay the full price for the six cups of land?"

  "Today, I borrow the power of the army to suppress the evil and small, the wicked will not escape, those who act arbitrarily and tyrannically, I will forge a precious sword for my heavenly son, and punish you, a wolf in sheep's clothing, for eternity!"

  The incense had burned out, and the two chancellors saw that Tang Guan was like a cloud flowing across the water as he wrote down an article on a piece of paper. He wanted to go forward to take a look, but stopped his footsteps.

  Tang Guan wiped the sweat from his face, picked up the brush and blew on it lightly, almost losing strength as he bowed to Wu Zetian: "Your minister... has finished writing."

  Wu Zetian heard this and remained calm, but suddenly became excited, hastily got up to take a look, and was stunned at what she saw.

  The two chancellors also looked up and waited for a long time. Finally, Wu Zetian said expressionlessly: "Sick Lang, you go down first."

  Tang Guan was already on the verge of collapse and didn't care about Wu Zetian's reaction, turning around and staggering out.

  Wu Zetian picked up the document on the table, sat down, and after a long while, she let out a soft sigh and said: "Choose a date for Tang Guan to hold the imperial examination"

  "Ah!?" The two were shocked and looked at each other. Wu Zetian handed the article back to the desk, saying: "You see for yourself."

  The article is flawed and not worth reading; I apologize to book friends. If there are those who are well-versed in this subject, please feel free to write another review; I would be deeply grateful.

  ，！