“This Xu Qingnian is really arrogant! We have come to participate in the Peace Poetry Competition, and he has insulted us like this!”
“He has only composed a few famous poems, how can he be so arrogant? No wonder he dares to disrespect the great scholars, such a person will sooner or later reap the consequences.”
“We are famous scholars from ten countries, I dare not say we are talented, but we have read the books of the saints for a few years.
“There is only a wrong name, not a wrong nickname. Hateful.”
Within the capital of Great Wei, a voice rang out, it was the great talents of the ten kingdoms, and there was no lack of Great Wei readers among them.
Xu Qingnian had said himself at the Peach Blossom Temple that he would not participate in the Taiping Poetry Competition.
This was an ordinary statement, but after someone added to it, it was instantly misinterpreted as Xu Qingnian despising the great talents of the ten kingdoms, which led to some controversy.
In fact, as Xu Qingnian had guessed, it was impossible for the Ten Kingdoms Great Talents not to know that someone had misinterpreted his meaning.
But that didn’t stop them from looking for trouble with Xu Qingnian, people believed what they wanted to believe.
But mad or humiliated, nowadays Xu Qingnian was almost oblivious to what was going on outside his window.
And so it was, the following day.
August 15th.
Many students and talents had already gone to Liyang Palace and waited until the hour to enter.
Every street was filled with people, every restaurant was booked out, and even a room for four or five people was exaggerated to such an extent.
Kyoto was so prosperous that it seemed unbearably noisy, with every house decorated with lights and the undulating sounds of each other’s hawking cascading up and down.
Inside the Shouren Academy.
Yongping Shizi looked somewhat helplessly at Xu Qingnian.
“Brother Xu, this Taiping Poetry Fair, is one of the three major poetry fairs in the world, are you really not going?”
“All the great talents of the ten nations are there, every Taiping Poetry Fair is incredibly important, you are now representing our Great Wei, if you don’t go, I’m afraid it will be difficult to suppress the great talents of the ten nations.”
These days, Yongping’s son had been at home preparing for the Peace Poetry Competition, and was in seclusion.
Now that the poetry session was about to start, Yongping Shizi came out to move around, but he learned that Xu Qingnian was not going to participate in the Peace Poetry Session, so he couldn’t sit still and came directly to Shouren Academy to look for Xu Qingnian.
“Brother Mu, the Taiping Poetry Fair is a grand event for the world’s scholars, but for me, it is just a party.”
“Now that the Great Wei Waterwheel Project needs to be implemented quickly, my brother Mu has to treat it with care, the matter is beneficial to the people and must not be delayed.”
Faced with the persuasion of Yongping Shizi, Xu Qingnian politely declined on the grounds of the water chariot project.
“Brother Xu, I know that the water chariot project is important, but the Peace Poetry Festival is also important to us, the scholars.”
“Furthermore, this time the ten great talents from the ten countries have come prepared, His Majesty has just ascended to the throne and the Great Wei Dynasty needs to do something, if this Peace Poetry Fair is overwhelmed by the talents from the ten countries, then Great Wei will not be able to hold up its head.”
Yongping’s son tried to persuade him in a different way.
But Xu Qingnian was a little helpless.
“Brother Mu, there are many talented people in Wei.
Xu Qingnian said, “He is really busy right now, how can he have time to attend this event?
And it would take seven days to attend, wasn’t that a waste of time?
“Brother Xu, it is true that there are many talents in Great Wei, but this time is different, my father told me that there are many things involved in this edition, and the talents from the ten countries have prepared a lot just to win the top title in the Taiping Poetry Competition, and it is said that there is the shadow of the Sudden Evil Dynasty and the Chu Yuan Dynasty behind this, so they are running to steal my talent in Great Wei.”
“If that is true, then we in Great Wei will not be able to hold our heads up in the future, Brother Xu, you can’t not go.”
Mu Nanping spoke in a decent manner, and all of it was brought up to the Great Wei talent.
And Xu Qingnian remained helpless.
“Brother Mu, I really have something to do, isn’t there still a Hua Xinyun in the Great Wei Palace of Literature? Let him go, besides, if this is really the case, His Majesty must be prepared.”
“I really have to get busy, Brother Mu, so I won’t see you off.”
Xu Qingnian was resolute, the biggest thing at the moment was to get public opinion.
As long as there was public opinion, he could cover up the supernatural arts within himself, Cheng Lidong was a bomb, hell knew when he would suddenly explode.
Xu Qingnian was 70% sure that Cheng Lidong would not dare to turn his back on him and would instead come back for more.
But there was still 30%, Cheng Lidong broke the jar.
If it was the former, there was still room for a roundabout way out, but if it was the latter, one had to cover up the foreign arts in one’s body as soon as possible.
If not, once the matter of the supernatural arts was exposed, he would be in real trouble.
I am afraid that His Majesty would not be able to protect him.
Therefore, under such circumstances, Xu Qingnian would not have the heart to attend the Peace Poetry Competition.
He might as well spend his time studying the promotion of the waterwheel.
If he could speed things up, he might be able to gain the people’s opinion sooner.
“Brother Xu! Alas!”
Mu Nanping wanted to continue speaking, but seeing Xu Qingnian’s appearance, he finally shook his head and had to stop and leave.
After seeing Mu Nanping leave, Xu Qingnian seemed to have a clear mind.
Xu Qingnian also seemed to have a clear mind.
It wasn’t long before someone else arrived, an official from the Ministry of Household Affairs.
“Lord Xu, Minister Gu asks you to go to the Ministry of Household Affairs quickly, saying that there is an important matter.”
With the arrival of the official from the Household Ministry, Xu Qingnian became somewhat curious.
But without saying much, he moved straight away and headed to the Household Ministry.
“What has happened?”
On the way, Xu Qingnian asked the official.
“I don’t know, but I only know that Shang Shu Gu got a letter, and afterwards he became furious and asked me to ask you to go there after the meeting.”
The other party replied in this way, but inexplicably, Xu Qingnian frowned a little.
Therefore, Xu Qingnian quickened her pace.
He arrived at the Household Department.
When he entered the Household Department, Xu Qingnian went straight to the inner hall.
In the inner hall, Gu Yan, the Minister of the Household Department, was sitting on a tai shi chair, and the two retainers to his left and right were also seated in it, all three of them did not look too good, and the atmosphere in the room seemed unusually quiet.
“My servant Xu Qingnian, I’d like to meet Shang Shu Gu and the two Servant Lords.”
Xu Qingnian entered the room, first bowing towards Shang Shu Gu, and then slightly arching his hand with the two Squire Lords, he was also a Squire, we were of the same rank, no need to salute, just a simple courtesy.
Seeing Xu Qingnian appear, Gu Yan did not say anything, but handed the three letters on the table to Xu Qingnian.
“Take a look.”
Gu Yan spoke out, and Xu Qingnian took the letters and proceeded to open them and read them.
After a while, Xu Qingnian’s eyes changed slightly.
Then she read the second letter, and the third one.
Soon Xu Qingnian understood why Gu Yan was so angry.
These three letters were from the Jin merchants of Guangling, the Huizhou merchants of Beihu and the Gan merchants of Nanlin.
The content of the letters was simple: the court wanted to make a large number of waterwheels, and the three main materials for making waterwheels were rattan wood, refined iron, and water oil.
Most of the buildings in Kyoto were coated with water oil, which had a colouring effect and was also effective against fire, making it an excellent product.
It is also excellent for use on water vehicles.
The most important items, apart from the hundred-refined iron, rattan wood and water oil, were basically in the hands of these merchants.
After all, the Wei dynasty did not need such things. Iron ore needed to be stored and this was something that had to be controlled, but rattan wood and water oil, there was no point in storing them and they could not be used for weapons.
The Ministry of Works had some, but not much.
In the fifty counties, 50,000 water carts are needed, and the Ministry of Industry has at most fifty units of rattan wood and water oil to make, so it is natural to buy them.
And these three major chambers of commerce, at the same moment, sent letters informing the Ministry of the Household that the stuff was available, but not a lot, and just about sold out of most of it, and that if it was urgently needed now, it would have to be harvested in advance, only to do so would result in a very small harvest, greatly damaging long-term growth.
There is, of course, another option, and that is for them to bear the pain of harvesting, only the price would not be the same.
It is clear that the three major chambers of commerce want to sit on their hands and give both sides a buffer as to how much the price will be, which has not yet been negotiated.
In this way, as the Minister of Household Affairs, Gu Yan was naturally thunderstruck.
“These merchants, they are really greedy for small profits, we have hardly closed our eyes these few days, accounting for the costs and offering a price of 8,500 taels for a water wagon, leaving about 40% of their profit, but we never thought that they are insatiable!”
“It’s true, the crows under the sky are black, the merchants of Fan are black, so are the merchants of Great Wei, as long as they are merchants, there is no one who is not black.”
“I really want the Ministry of War to arrest these three merchants and have them all raided! Kill them until they are honest.”
Gu Yan’s angry curses rang out, and he even wanted to be like Xu Qingnian, and have the Ministry of War go and arrest people and kill those who dared to object.
But he knew that this was impossible.
Xu Qingnian had killed the merchants because they had already caused public discontent, and Xu Qingnian had done it deliberately to make them enrich themselves so that public discontent would reach a boiling point before the knife fell.
But if these merchants were to be killed, it would not be a joke, and if the merchants were killed, it would not affect Wei.
But these merchants, involved in a variety of businesses, from food, drink, housing and transport, to the needs of the six ministries, really want to kill, who will work for the court? Who would generate some of the revenue for the Ministry of the Household? The people at the bottom would be even worse off.
So he was only angry, but he didn’t dare to kill them if he really had to.
“Shouren, do you have a way to deal with these female dry merchants?”
At this point, Gu Yan looked at Xu Qingnian, who was indeed somewhat at his wits’ end.
The other side was clearly sitting on their hands, and the reason they found was impeccable, after all, you were asking for such a huge amount of materials in one breath, and it was reasonable for people to say they didn’t have it.
You can’t send someone to check, can you?
Even if you do, what can you do? Do you know where people’s warehouses are? How are you going to clear it?
When the time comes, people will come and say that these are goods that have been ordered off, so it’s always impossible to cut in, right? Especially when these merchants are smart enough to say that they were ordered away by a foreign country.
If they really did jump the queue, they would all call out Great Wei for bullying.
If it were in the heyday, there would be no fear of being scolded, but nowadays, in Great Wei, no matter what you do, you have to be careful not to invite insults but to get things done.
If Xu Qingnian hadn’t killed the merchants, if the people hadn’t been so supportive, in any other situation, Xu Qingnian would have been sent to jail.
The greater the involvement, the more scruples there are.
The more you hear what Gu Yan said.
Xu Qingnian did not answer, but was very silent in his thoughts.
In fact, this was something that one had already guessed before.
After all, merchants were profit driven, and once they saw such a large order, their first reaction was probably not to think of getting rich, but to think of how to ask for a price.
There was no way around that.
Unless the materials were bought beforehand, but you would also arouse the suspicion of others by buying in large quantities, and it would be almost impossible to spare them.
“Send a letter back first and inform them that they are willing to increase the price, as long as the price is reasonable.”
After a while, Xu Qingnian gave this reply.
But once this was said, Gu Yan’s face became a little ugly.
“An increase in price?”
“Fifty thousand water carts at eight thousand five hundred taels a piece, there’s already close to forty percent profit in that, and they’ll arrive with close to ten percent profit after deducting the cost.”
“If the Ministry of the Household allocates another increase, the cost of labour behind, the cost of transporting the waterwheel, and some other miscellaneous costs, it will be at least five hundred taels of silver in excess.”
“Shouren, this is another fifty million taels to be taken out, I’m only afraid that the Household Ministry won’t be able to bear it.”
Gu Yan said somewhat depressed.
Originally, fifty thousand million taels of silver was already the limit, and now there was an increase in price?
To be honest once the price was increased, it would mean an overage, Great Wei had 80,000,000 taels of current silver, of which at least 20,000,000 taels had to be left untouched, right?
After all, who could guarantee that something would not happen tomorrow?
The remaining 60,000,000 taels, 50,000,000 taels, is already the limit of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and he can’t afford to take out any more.
Not to mention him, who in the six ministries would be willing to do so?
His Majesty can’t even do that.
These female merchants.
“Minister Gu, at the moment we are being held back, we can only make inquiries first, at least to find out how much they want to add.”
“And then we’ll discuss it in the long run.”
In a short period of time, Xu Qingnian definitely couldn’t think of anything, and instead of doing so, it would be better to see how big the other party’s appetite was.
If he only wanted to add a little, it was not impossible to negotiate.
But if he wanted to add more, then it would be embarra*sing.
Gu Yan’s face sank a little, but in the end he nodded and agreed to Xu Qingnian’s statement.
There was no other way, being held back, it was impossible to just wait, right?
The Ministry of Works had been training for such a long time, and it would be troublesome if the delay was due to material problems.
The whole Ministry of Household and Ministry of Works had been busy for more than twenty days, which should have been dealing with other matters, and if they gave up like this, they would not be willing to do so.
“Shouren, do a good job of responding to the method, I have a feeling that this matter will definitely not be so simple, these merchants dare to sit on the ground at this juncture, they must have the strength and backbone, this is a test for the Ministry of Household.”
Gu Yan spoke up and told Xu Qingnian to be prepared, the other party dared to suddenly sit on the ground and raise the price, they must have the backbone and bottom card.
“Qingnian understands, please rest a*sured, Your Excellency, Qingnian will take this matter seriously.”
Xu Qingnian nodded his head.
What Gu Yan had thought of, Xu Qingnian had also thought of.
But no matter what, it was better to wait for the other party to make an offer.
“Alright, it’s getting late, Shouren, let’s go to the Taiping Poetry Fair together.”
Gu Yan got up, this matter was for now, he invited Xu Qingnian to go to the Taiping Poetry Fair together.
“Minister Gu, I won’t go to the Taiping Poetry Fair, I have other things to do.”
Xu Qingnian politely refused.
When this was said, the three were somewhat curious.
“Shouren, the Taiping Poetry Fair is one of the three great literary events, you are so talented, wouldn’t it be a pity if you didn’t go?”
“Yes, Shouren, today we are at the court and everyone is talking about you, they are all expecting you to win glory for our Great Wei at the Taiping Poetry Competition, how can you not go?”
The left and right retainers spoke up, their words filled with curiosity.
“As long as the water chariot project is not solved, the people of Great Wei will have to starve for one more day. The Taiping Poetry Competition is a great event in the eyes of others, but in Xu’s eyes, it is no better than the people.”
Xu Qingnian opened his mouth and said so.
When this was said, the three people were once again surprised.
“Three lords, my humble servant will take my leave.”
Xu Qingnian did not say more, worshipped towards the three people, and then left.
Inside the room, after seeing Xu Qingnian leave, Gu Yan could not help but sigh with emotion.
“Xu Shouren, you are truly a clean official of my Great Wei, with a heart for the people, I admire you.”
Gu Yan’s words were not a compliment, but were spoken from the heart.
For all literary people, if they have talent, they would love to attend such literary events every day, hoping to make a name for themselves and attract the envy of the world.
But Xu Qingnian had such a great talent, yet he was willing to make a living for the people with a withered lamp.
Another place.
Xu Qingnian was walking towards the Shouren Academy, his face calm, but inwardly he was a little unhappy.
The waterwheel project is currently the most important thing to Xu Qingnian, but what he didn’t expect was that someone was secretly stopping it.
It was normal for the three major chambers of commerce to be profit-seeking and sit on their hands, but normally they would not sit on their hands at this juncture, they could have done so two days earlier.
Obviously, there was someone behind them, and they were willing to ask for more silver.
This is disgusting enough.
It was a pity that no direct action could be taken against these merchants, otherwise Xu Qingnian wouldn’t mind raiding another group of people’s homes.
There would be no mercy.
“We have to think of a good way to deal with this, the three major chambers of commerce, I’m only afraid that they are not good comers.”
Xu Qingnian said to himself in his mind.
This was another trouble.
In that case, this Taiping Poetry Meeting, it would be even more impossible to go to, a pure waste of time.
Shouren Academy.
When Xu Qingnian returned home, a woman was standing outside the academy, holding a letter in her hand.
Upon seeing Xu Qingnian, the woman instantly came forward.
“Xu Gongzi! Sir Xu! Slave servant is Miss Baiyi’s maid, this is the letter that Miss Baiyi asked slave servant to give to you.”
The woman came and handed a letter to Xu Qingnian with a nervous expression.
After all, the person in front of her, was the Great Wei’s Wangui genius and the Minister of Household, so it was already very good that she, a maid, could muster up the courage to hand the envelope to Xu Qingnian.
“Miss Baiyi?”
Xu Qingnian took the envelope, and then nodded, and the maid quickly left.
When the maid left, Xu Qingnian opened the letter, which was written in a beautiful and elegant manner, with a faint fragrance.
Its content, however, was an apology.
“Could it really not be her?”
“Did I misunderstand?”
The content of the letter was entirely an apology to herself, saying that she did not know what had annoyed her and hoped that she would not blame her.
This made Xu Qingnian wonder if she had really misidentified the wrong person.
As he walked into the school, Xu Qingnian found a place at random.
He frowned and pondered.
The White Cloth Sect had asked him to go to the Peach Blossom Nunnery, and he had answered the appointment, so it was logical that someone would come to meet him at the first opportunity.
If he was worried about being too obvious to meet him first, he would at least give himself a little signal, or a little hint.
It is impossible to make oneself guess who is from the White Clothes Sect, right?
If this white-clothed person is really from the White Clothes Sect, he should open up when he sees himself, there is no need to cover up.
It would be a waste of time.
But if she wasn’t from the White Clothes Sect, then who was?
Miss Liu?
Impossible, one had plenty of alone time with her and could have told each other straight away.
Who then or who?
Wangfu?
That was even more unlikely, really someone from the White Clothes Sect, coming up to trouble himself? Isn’t there something wrong with his brain?
Xu Qingnian pondered.
In the end, he closed his eyes and began to remember every bit of yesterday.
From the time he entered the Peach Blossom Nunnery, every person, every image, was replayed in his mind.
Suddenly.
Xu Qingnian opened his eyes.
“It’s him!”
Xu Qingnian suddenly guessed who it was.
A nondescript fellow.
There was a certain possibility.
“If it’s really this person, this White Cloth Sect is too cerebral.”
Xu Qingnian guessed a possibility, but didn’t dare to fully guarantee it, so he could only wait until the next time he went to the Peach Blossom Temple.
There was no time or effort to go now.
Picking up the letter, Xu Qingnian returned to her room.
The matter of the three major chambers of commerce had to be resolved as soon as possible.
The Waterwheel Project would never stop because of these three major chambers of commerce.
Never!
At 10 o’clock.
Xu Qingnian lit a candle flame and carefully read the book again, but Xu Qingnian had two minds in one.
While reading the book, he was thinking about things.
It was also at this time that several bells rang out.
Accompanied by a loud voice, it spread throughout the capital of Great Wei.
“Peaceful Poetry Meeting, open the feast.”
As this voice rang out, the fireworks in Kyoto rushed into the sky, gorgeous and beautiful, and the people looked at the fireworks in the sky dome, enjoying the bustle and brief prosperity.
The entire Liyang Palace, too, was completely bustling at this moment.
Countless talented people poured into the Liyang Palace, wine was poured into the pools, warblers sang and danced, bell tones became music, and there was endless prosperity.
The Great Wei Palace of Literature, the great figures of the four schools of learning were all present, the empress would not appear in the first few days, but only in the last three.
The feast began, the people watched the singing and dancing, drank wine and chatted. As the great scholars of the Palace of Literature finished their speeches, some strange people appeared and performed illusions, making the feast even more radiant.
The people who entered watched with rapt attention, and the talented men shouted their approval.
It was not until an hour later.
The banquet came to its most anticipated part.
On the first day, the Great Wei Palace of Literature will give the questions, and everyone will be able to participate by writing a poem or an essay with the questions.
The best work will be selected and rewarded by the court, but for the literati of the world, there is no greater reward than to appear at the banquet.
Poems on the theme, interspersed with songs and dances, and some riddles for the public, made the event a lively one.
Time pa*sed.
The whole event lasted five hours until the ugly hour.
At the Great Wei Palace of Literature, Sun Jing’an brought in the list of winners.
“The ten best literati on the first day of the Taiping Poetry Festival.”
“First place, Great Wei’s White Deer Academy, Zhao Anzhi.”
“Second place, Chen Kingdom’s Jingduan Academy, Li Peng.”
“Third place, Three Rivers School of Jin, Wang Yangxin.”
As one name after another was shouted out, those on the list all looked very excited.
The first place winner was the Great Wei Talented Scholar, which was fair enough, at least he hadn’t lost face.
However, seven of the top ten talents were from other countries, and Wei only took the seventh and ninth places, which was not a good result.
But the good thing is that the first one is still a talent of Wei, so it’s not a disgrace, but rather a failure to live up to expectations.
The ten best talents were listed, and the court gave the royal family four treasures of literature as a reward, as well as the empress’ own words of diligence, which was considered a great honour.
And then, along with the sound of the bell, the crowd retired.
Most of the people still lingered a little, after all, they would not be able to come tomorrow and would have to be replaced by a new group of people.
An incense stick later.
The Liyang Palace was quiet, the great figures from the Great Wei Palace of Literature as well as the four academies remained in the hall, and the expressions of the people were not particularly good.
The scene was quiet, completely devoid of the slightest hint of liveliness from the party.
“The ten kingdoms, they’ve come prepared.”
After a while, Chen Zhengru’s voice rang out, breaking the silence.
When this was said, the crowd became even more silent.
Because the Taiping Poetry Fair, one of the three major poetry fairs in the world, was also a poetry fair hosted by Great Wei, and in previous years came basically the ten best talents on the first day, seven of which were all Great Wei talents.
In previous years, seven of the ten best poets on the first day were Wei talents, and there were even times when all ten were Wei talents.
But this year, there were only three, and they were even slightly biased in favour of the number one ranking, as someone whose literary talent was not weaker than his could have tied for first place.
Wouldn’t that be a joke?
“I don’t expect any good results tomorrow, I just hope that the first place will still be from my Great Wei, otherwise it will be a problem.”
Someone spoke up, it was the deans of the four academies, their expressions slightly heavy.
“Don’t be pessimistic, even if we lose tomorrow, my Great Wei hasn’t sent Nebula out yet, and if he does, he will be able to crown the best.”
Sun Jing’an spoke, unconcerned that the crowd was thinking a little too much.
“Let’s hope so.”
“Just why isn’t Xu Qingnian coming to participate?”
The other party nodded, but was also curious as to why Xu Qingnian was not coming to participate.
“Hmph, there are rumours among the people that he doesn’t despise the Peace Poetry Festival, what else is there to say about such a person?”
Sun Jing’an sneered.
At these words, Chen Zhengru could not help but frown.
“As a great scholar, you should know that rumours stop the wise.”
Chen Zhengru looked slightly displeased.
“Whether it is a rumour or not, it is not certain.”
“Of course, there might be a possibility.”
“He knows that Nebula will also be attending, so he just doesn’t dare to compete.”
Sun Jing’an then spoke indifferently.
Having said that, he directly left, not giving Chen Zhengru any face at all.
Chen Zhengru paid no attention, while the crowd left without saying much.
A few hours later.
The Taiping Poetry Competition at Liyang Palace had become the number one topic of conversation in Great Wei.
All the people who had attended praised the Taiping Poetry Society to the extreme.
It had even attracted countless people to aspire to it.
But there were some voices, too.
They were the voices of the talented sons of the ten kingdoms.
“At yesterday’s event, Brother Li’s poetry was clearly no better than Zhao Anzhi’s, but the Great Wei Palace of Literature favoured Zhao Anzhi in order to save face, so this first place has no real name.”
“Although I can understand what the Great Wei Palace of Literature did, this is a poetry festival, and poetry should be the main focus, so to deliberately suppress Brother Li for the sake of his face is really disgusting.”
“We should be practical and realistic, for the sake of face, the Great Wei Palace of Literature is a bit shameless.”
Not too loud, not too small, voices spread through Kyoto, the talented scholars of the ten kingdoms were not satisfied with the actions of the Great Wei Palace of Literature, after all, they thought even more that Li Peng’s poetry was better than Zhao Anzhi’s.
However, they were very unhappy with the fact that they had to settle for second place.
But this was the first day after all, and the Ten Kingdoms Talented Men could understand, and it would be fine to have a rant with their friends.
But perhaps because they were not paying attention to the others, they attracted the attention of some of the literati of Great Wei, and there were many arguments.
There were even literati cursing at each other, which drew some attention, and then the Ministry of Justice stepped in and mediated, and the matter was put to rest.
There is one undeniable point.
The Ten Kingdoms talent was very unconvinced.
Until today at 10 o’clock.
The second day of the Taiping Poetry Competition began.
As yesterday, there was music and dance, followed by poetry, and each hour was arranged accordingly, making it a lively event.
Despite their discontent, the talented men of the ten nations ate, drank and laughed at the event.
It was the eleventh hour.
All the poems have been collected, with a few great scholars from the Great Wei Palace of Literature as the main focus, and the deans of the four academies as the supporters, and the crowd is reviewing the poems and then ranking them for division.
But today, again, the exact same situation as yesterday was encountered.
The battle for first place.
The poems of the Great Wei Talents and the poems of the Tang Talents were of comparable quality, and if we were to compare them, they could only be cla*sified by their fonts.
The Great Wei Talent’s script, however, lost slightly, and for a moment the crowd was somewhat silent.
Common sense would dictate that the Great Wei Talent would be first.
But if we were to be serious, it would be the Tang talent who would be first.
If the Peace Poetry Competition had been held in a foreign country, they would not have been so torn and would have chosen Tang directly.
But this was Wei.
The empress had just ascended to the throne and Wei needed to do something to boost the people’s confidence and promote the country’s prestige.
So when political factors are involved, it’s just a matter of choosing the Great Wei talent.
“No rush first, the ones behind the ranking.”
Chen Zhengru spoke up, telling the crowd not to rush to choose the first one first.
Let’s see what comes after.
Several great scholars from the Four Great Schools and the Great Wei Palace of Literature nodded their heads and began to quickly rectify the second to tenth list.
When the list was completed, the crowd looked even worse.
The crowd looked even worse.
Because from the second to the tenth, there was not a single Great Wei talent.
In other words, if they didn’t choose the first one from the Great Wei, it would be a joke after the meeting was over today.
“Li Read’s poetry, it feels like the standard has slipped a bit.”
“Zhang Chen’s poetry is also slipping a bit.”
“I thought they could occupy the top ten positions, why is the quality so average?”
“There’s another person, Chen Xinghe, one person wrote more than ten poems, each one mediocre, why are they all some of these people going to the banquet?”
Chen Zhengru deliberately found several poems, these are all famous talent of Great Wei, not to say that they can make a thousand ancient poems, but at least into the top ten no problem, but find a look, although the poems are good, but compared to the poems they have written before, some …… The poems are good, but compared to their previous poems, they are a bit down.
When you get to the level of a talent, any little drop is crucial.
Especially since the Ten Kingdoms talents still came prepared this time.
And there was Chen Xinghe, who wrote a dozen poems in a row, all of which were very ordinary, so I don’t know where he got the confidence.
“Perhaps they were nervous, after all, it was also their first time participating in the Taiping Poetry Competition.”
The dean of the Song Yang Academy spoke up and explained for them.
The crowd nodded slightly, there was a possibility of that, composing poems on weekdays, which were elegant works, might be a little better, but if they really had to do it at the poetry meeting, they might drop off because of their inner nervousness, plus the time issue.
And the ten countries’ talents, which were obviously aimed at Great Wei, had a distinctly unusual quality, and some of their poems, though not in the top ten, could be considered masterpieces.
“What should we do?”
Someone asked in a suppressed voice.
“If we don’t take the first place, how can we lose face in the Great Wei?”
Sun Jing’an was the first to speak up and make his choice.
When this was said, the crowd was a little hesitant.
They all looked towards Chen Zhengru.
And the latter looked quiet.
He was also hesitating and torn.
There was nothing wrong with choosing Great Wei first, it was just that he was afraid that the Ten Kingdoms talent would not agree ah.
It was just that if they didn’t let Great Wei come first, it would cause even more trouble.
“Let’s choose Tang.”
In the end, Chen Zhengru made his choice, although there was some reluctance, but this could not be helped.
“No!”
However Sun Jing’an refused outright.
“Chen Ru, if you choose Tang, today’s incident will spread to the world, and then everyone in the world will laugh at Great Wei.”
“Choose Wei.”
Sun Jing’an said categorically.
“But if you choose Wei, wouldn’t it be unfair?”
Chen Zhengru said with a frown.
“What’s wrong with that? Ask yourself, the quality of these two poems is not even close to each other, this poetry meeting, the competition is poetry, not fonts, if the poetry of Great Wei is, indeed, inferior to that of Tang, I will definitely not say one more word.”
“But essentially, there is indeed no problem between the two.”
Sun Jing’an said so.
And the rest of them could not help but nod their heads.
Seeing the people nodding, Chen Zhengru sighed and did not say anything more.
“Topping the poems, I will write the rankings.”
Sun Jing’an was afraid that Chen Zhengru would backtrack at the last minute, so he personally took over the task of writing the rankings.
And so it was four hours later.
Finally, the feast ended.
It was still Sun Jing’an who appeared, holding the list, and slowly spoke.
“The ten best works of today’s test.”
“First place, Great Wei Yuelu Academy, Fan Hao Guang.”
“Second place, Jing Yang Academy of Tang, Chao Xing Yan.”
“Third place, Northern Kingdom Pingyang Academy, Zhongruo.”
Sun Jing’an’s voice rang out as the palace eunuchs took the poems that had already been topped up and displayed them for the crowd to see.
And when Sun Jing’an finished reading, he twirled his beard and smiled, “Please ask the ten talented people to come out and receive their rewards.”
As his voice fell, someone from the crowd stepped forward, it was Fan Haoguang, the talented son of Great Wei, whose face was full of smiles and his eyes were covered with excitement.
But the next moment, a voice rang out.
“This Fan Haoguang’s poetry doesn’t seem to be as good as Brother Chao’s.”
The voice rang out and immediately drew a few more voices.
“Yes, although both poems are superior, it is obvious that Brother Chao’s poems are superior.”
“More than that, not only are Brother Chao’s poems extremely good, but they are also beautifully scripted.
“Sun Ru, is there a mistake in this ranking? I hope Sun Ru will re-verify it.”
“Yes, re-verify!”
A chorus of voices rang out, the vast majority of them from the talented sons of the Ten Kingdoms, who did not lash out, but questioned, immediately after asking the great scholars to re-verify it all over again.
But when this was said, it angered the Great Wei literati.
“I do think that Brother Fan’s poem is superior to Chao Xing Yan’s, and as for the script, where is the problem with that?”
“Yes, can you not afford to lose?”
“Nine of the top ten are talents from ten countries, and if we don’t have them, we don’t have them.
Some voices rang out, with displeasure.
After all, they were already a little displeased that only one of the ten best literati was a Great Wei literati, but they didn’t expect this ten country talent to be so arrogant, did they have to trample Great Wei underfoot to be happy?
“Ridiculous, how can we not lose? It’s just that one is one and two is two, these two poems are not equal in quality and can only be judged by the others.
“Can’t you afford to lose? It’s ridiculous, we have been preparing for years for a ranking, one is one, if that’s the case, then why hold this event? Just write directly that Great Wei is number one, a waste of time.”
“First there was the mad student Xu Qingnian who spoke out of turn and humiliated our talented students from the ten countries, and now the ranking is unfair, is this how strong Great Wei is? Understood, learned.”
“Forget it, let’s go, it’s better not to come if it’s so unfair.”
“Go, go, go, this reward has a lot of meaning? I thought Wei was one of the three great dynasties, but I didn’t expect it to be such a sham.”
“Gentlemen, let’s go!”
The talented sons of the ten kingdoms spoke, each sneering, and in the end, I don’t know who led the way, but they simply turned around and left, looking arrogant and overbearing.
At that moment, a figure left, the talented sons of the ten kingdoms were extremely disrespectful, which was also the arrogance of the literati, and left in droves.
At the banquet, Sun Jing’an’s face was ugly, while the six ministers, the officials of the Great Wei, the great scholars of the Palace of Literature, and the deans of the four great academies, all of them also looked not so good.
The Taiping Poetry Festival, such an important event, and these people were so arrogant, was this not another slap in the face of Great Wei?
When the people saw this scene, they were also a bit annoyed, but they didn’t know what to say.
“A bunch of people, can’t afford to lose!”
“Talented son of the Ten Kingdoms, can you have some temperament?”
“What a laugh!”
“If you don’t come, you don’t have to be afraid of you?”
The literati of Great Wei could not help but curse.
After all, this matter had not yet been concluded, but these people just left without giving any face, how could they hold back?
“Dismiss the banquet!”
It was also at this moment that Chen Zhengru spoke up, his face slightly ugly.
Soon.
Inside the capital of Great Wei.
Various voices rang out, drawing a huge reaction.
“Great Wei is unjust, to disregard talent for its face, ridiculous and laughable.”
“Such a great event, yet Great Wei colludes like this, treating us scholars like ants.”
“We, the scholars, cultivate our righteousness, but we never imagined that the great scholars would distort the truth, which is really an insult to the word great scholars.”
“It is better not to go to such an event.”
These were the voices of the talented scholars of the ten countries, who were furious and thought it was unfair.
“The poetry meeting is a poetry meeting in itself, to correct its font, you are really ridiculous.”
“You are picking bones, are you here for the event or to pick holes?”
“If you can’t afford to lose, then you can’t afford to lose. Nine of the ten best writers are not from Wei, and that’s not fair? Then what is unfair?”
“Yes, nine out of ten are you, what more? Do you mean to say that we in Great Wei are inferior to you?”
The literati of Great Wei were also enraged.
It was a poetry competition, not a contest of who could write well.
Moreover, the matter has not yet been decided, and you are leaving on the spot, not giving any face.
A bunch of barbarians.
There was a lot of fire on both sides, and the people were a bit fired up.
That’s right, the quality of the poetry is similar, why are you obsessing about the font? Is it about who can write better or who can write better poetry?
Furthermore, this lack of respect is a bit excessive, isn’t it?
In all honesty, nine of the top ten are from your ten countries, and that’s not good enough? What more do you want? Do you have to step on Wei’s face to be happy?
It was because of this conflict.
For a while, the people have become somewhat hostile to the scholars of the Ten Kingdoms.
The main reason was that they didn’t listen to explanations either, they just left, not giving any face at all, so if you don’t give it, these people won’t give it either.
Some of the innkeepers, directly clear the people, all get out of my way.
In some restaurants, they put up notices refusing to allow people from other countries to stay.
Some literati even sneered and sneered.
In an instant, conflicts were instantly drawn out and soon there were brawls and fights.
The officials of the Ministry of Justice were not sure how busy they were during this day.
They went everywhere to reconcile the situation, and the court of Great Wei was the first to issue an order not to allow hatred of people from other countries.
After all, Great Wei is a nation of manners and it would be pointless to play this.
Later the Great Wei Wen Gong asked Hua Xinyun to step in, he had travelled around the world and had connections with literati from many countries.
He stepped in to mediate, and the top did not want to make too much of a scene.
It must be said that Hua Xinyun did have the means to gather the talented scholars of the ten countries, while later setting up a banquet to apologise, and to talk about the underlying issues as well as mentioning their flip-flop yesterday.
As for yesterday’s ranking, the court is also reconsidering the matter and will give an explanation after the event is over.
When these words were spoken, the talented sons of the ten nations were slightly demoralised.
It was a way to stop the conflict.
But most importantly, it was because Hua Xinyun was going to attend the banquet today that the Ten Kingdoms Talented Talents were able to calm down their anger.
After all, if they could overpower Hua Xinyun at the Peace Poetry Festival, then everything would be fine.
So today’s event is full of anticipation for both the literati and the people of Wei, as well as for the talented scholars of the Ten Kingdoms and the foreign countries.
And in the Shouren Academy.
Gu Yan, the Minister of Household Affairs, was here.
Zhang Jing, the Minister of Justice, had come.
Even the Minister of Justice, Chen Zhengru, had come.
There were also the Mu Nanping siblings.
Even Chen Xinghe had come to persuade Xu Qingnian to go to the banquet.
But all of them were rejected by Xu Qingnian.
“Senior brother, this time, the Peace Poetry Party is not going to be too good.”
“If you don’t come, I’m just afraid that it will be really difficult to end the event.”
Chen Xinghe opened his mouth and spoke bitterly from the side.
He had gone to all three days, actively writing poems each time, but none of them had been chosen, so perhaps it was normal for the ten national talents to have the intention to prepare, and for him to condescend to be eleventh.
As for why he knew he was eleventh, Chen Xinghe had this confidence.
“Senior brother, just don’t advise, I really don’t want to go.”
Xu Qingnian had some brain pain, I don’t know how many people had come today, all persuading themselves to go.
But the question is, where would he go?
Why do you have nothing better to do than to eat?
There’s so much business to be dealt with, and to go over there and pretend to behave?
Brother, it’s great that you guys are pretending.
But I don’t have time. If I can’t handle this, I’ll lose my head.
Xu Qingnian was speechless.
If nothing was wrong, he might have gone.
But now there was so much going on, it was a waste of time.
“Ugh.”
Chen Xinghe was a bit helpless, it was a pity that the poetry session was for questions, if there were no questions, he had even thought about asking Xu Qingnian to write a poem and take it over to pretend to be bleeped.
It was a pity, a pity.
Chen Xinghe did not do not persuade, do not bother Xu Qingnian, see the time is not early, once again set out, go to the banquet, write a little more today, there is no way a capital can not pa*s, right?
It was 10 o’clock.
It was the third day of the Taiping Poetry Festival.
But it was different from the previous two days.
The first two times everyone was happy and cheerful, but today there was a bit of silence and grimness.
Yesterday, the Ten Kingdoms Talents had been so disrespectful, so who could laugh today?
What the Ten Kingdoms Talent did was like a slap in the face to the Great Wei, and it would have been a hell of a laugh.
Everyone was silent.
Even the singing and dancing did not elicit laughter from the crowd.
Everyone wanted the time to pa*s quickly, to go straight to the poetry writing session, and then to announce immediately.
One hour later.
This time it was Chen Zhengru who came up with the question.
“This time, the banquet will be the topic.”
“One poem per person, no more than one.”
Chen Zhengru spoke, the same as yesterday, but with an extra rule added.
The crowd was a little curious, not knowing why this rule was added.
Could it be that someone was writing two poems in one breath?
Also, the question was somehow …… It was difficult.
A banquet?
Why this question?
The crowd was even more curious.
But curiosity is curious, but soon the crowd immediately moved their pens.
At the banquet, Chen Zhengru and the others had their eyes on Hua Xinyun.
And Hua Xinyun indeed lived up to the expectations of the crowd as he put pen to paper.
In an instant, his talent surged and the words fell on white paper, blossoming with golden light.
“Good! A word of a thousand gold, a word of a thousand gold!”
“Excellent work! An extreme work!”
At this moment, many people spoke up, and when they saw Hua Xinyun’s fallen words blossom into a golden light, they instantly understood what was going on.
A word of a thousand gold was a symbol of poetry.
It was not as good as a thousand ancient poems, but it was still an extreme work, a rare extreme work.
At this moment, many talented scholars among the ten kingdoms frowned as they naturally felt some emotion and a sense of powerlessness in the face of a work with a thousand words.
Most of the works were evaluated by the great scholars after they had been written, and these works, even if they were masterpieces, were limited to poetry.
They are limited to poetry.
But if it can lead to a vision, this is the recognition of heaven and earth.
A word of a thousand pieces of gold is a kind of recognition.
Upwards, it is a national poem.
The next step up is a poem of ancient fame.
It’s hard to say that it’s not a poem of a thousand years old, but a poem of the state.
Not only the people, but also the six ministers, the great scholars of the Great Wei Palace of Literature, and the deans of the four great academies, were completely relieved at this moment, their faces full of smiles.
But just at that moment.
Boom!
A sound like thunder exploded.
At this moment, in the middle of the crowd, a handsome man’s talent energy surged all over his body.
Rolling talent energy poured into the paper.
A sound like thunder erupted.
It directly shattered the poem in Hua Xinyun’s hand.
In the next moment, the words on the white paper turned into light, leaping out of the paper and flying towards the vault of heaven.
Each word kept multiplying and was a hundred feet in size, hanging in the sky above Great Wei.
Immediately, the faces of the great scholars, as well as the six ministers and others, became very ugly in a flash.
Because, this was …… Zhen Guo poem!
“Hiss! Brother Li En has written a Zhen Guo poem!”
“This is Brother Li En of the Southern Kingdom’s Henglu School.”
“Brother Li is so talented!”
“How can you write a poem about the kingdom? Brother Li is really talented.”
“Hahahahaha, I didn’t expect Brother Li En to be able to write a poem about the kingdom.
“Good, good, good, I would like to see if anyone else dares to say that this poem is not good today.”
“Gentlemen, this poem can’t be ranked only second, can it?”
“Poetry to subdue the nation, Brother Li, this is the great talent of the ages.”
“If this poem of Brother Li is still ranked second today, then this Great Wei will not come in the future.”
“This is still ranked second? If I were to rank second, then I would stop studying and go to the fields.”
“Not necessarily, it depends on whether a few great scholars agree or not.”
The talented students of the ten kingdoms were instantly boiling at this moment.
They were excited and at the same time ridiculed what had happened yesterday.
The Great Wei Talents, on the other hand, all had ugly faces.
Hua Xinyun was also a little displeased, but just didn’t say much.
As for the people of Great Wei, they were even more silent than one another.
Losing to the other side on their own turf, do you think you’re angry?
And so gloomy?
“Ridiculous, it’s still unknown if they can come first.”
“Yes, is it confirmed so soon?”
“There are still a few hours to go.”
Some of the people were not convinced and couldn’t help but speak up.
It was just better if they didn’t speak up, but once they did, more voices rang out.
“This is still not the first? The poem of the kingdom! Why are you so tough-mouthed?”
“If only the great scholars were a little more impartial, this would be number one.”
“The Zhen Guo poem is not number one? What’s first? A thousand words of gold?”
“Is it possible that there are still poems that are famous for a thousand years?”
“Oh, I see, you’re trying to say that Xu Qingnian hasn’t come yet, right? It doesn’t matter if he’s here or not, even if Xu Qingnian is good, can he just make a thousand famous poems?”
“Stop talking tough, is it so hard to admit you’re bad?”
The talented sons of the ten kingdoms took turns to speak, the literati were already arrogant and had powerful mouths, and their words made many people blush.
“Xu Wangu is not coming because he does not look up to you, otherwise do you really think he would not come?”
“Yes, Xu Wangu is famous for a thousand ancient words, a thousand ancient sayings, a thousand ancient first ekphrases, do you and others have them?”
“That’s right, when Xu Wangu comes, it’s really an unknown whether this is the first or not.”
The people opened their mouths, and even many of the Great Wei literati could not help but open their mouths, among them were some people from the Great Wei Literary Palace.
Although they did not like Xu Qingnian.
But at this point in time, it was impossible not to support Xu Qingnian.
“Chen Ru, the student would like to compose another poem, I wonder if it is possible?”
At this moment, Hua Xinyun suddenly spoke up, he wanted to compose another poem.
In an instant, the crowd’s eyes lit up.
There was some excitement.
One by one, the talented students of the ten kingdoms frowned, after all, the crowd still understood Hua Xinyun’s talent.
Perhaps there really was a turn of events.
“Brother Hua, Chen Ru has said that one person is limited to one poem, it’s not that we are afraid of Brother Hua making any poems.”
“It’s just that …… This is not in line with the rules, right?”
It was at this point that someone spoke up, arguing that it was not in line with the rules and blocking the other side’s path with this.
As soon as this was said, the crowd’s faces changed.
Chen Zhengru was also a little depressed.
The reason why he had imposed the limit of one song per person was because someone had written more than ten songs in one breath, so he had added this limit.
But unexpectedly, he had lifted a stone and smashed his own feet.
The situation was now very awkward.
If one agreed to do so.
Even if they produced better poems, the talented people of the ten countries would definitely not agree.
But if we don’t agree, today, we will lose too completely.
Everyone had a grudge from yesterday’s incident, and if Great Wei lost, they were only afraid that it would cause trouble.
“Rules are rules.”
“But the hour is indeed not up, so we will set it when the banquet breaks up, so don’t stop, gentlemen, write.”
Chen Zhengru spoke.
No change to the rules.
But he still had the only hope.
Once this was said, the Ten Kingdoms Talented Men became even more smiling.
And at that moment, Chen Zhengru pressed his voice in the ear of the guards and said.
“Quickly go to Shouren Academy and invite Xu Qingnian to come!”
His voice was not loud, but it was full of determination.
The four great academies, the Great Wei Palace of Literature, including many of the people saw the scene, as did the talented students of the ten kingdoms.
It was impossible to hear what Chen Ru said, but all of them guessed what it was.
At once, the guards moved to leave immediately.
And Chen Zhengru was both worried and a little annoyed.
Who the hell is this Chen Xinghe?
Harming others and harming himself!
At this moment.
At the feast, there was finally laughter.
But it was all the laughter of the talented sons of the Ten Kingdoms.
The people of Great Wei, the literati of Great Wei, seemed unusually quiet.
A polarisation was formed.
But everyone was waiting.
Waiting for Xu Qingnian to come!
Soon, word of what had happened at Liyang Palace also reached Great Wei’s Kyoto.
When all the people learned of it, they couldn’t help but have a heavy heart.
“Quickly go to Shouren Academy and invite Xu Qingnian to come!”
At this moment, the only thing on the minds of both the scholars and the people of Great Wei Kyoto was this.
For this was the only hope.
