Chapter 34: Thunder and Fire in Xijing

I don’t know if it was because Li Er really did something that angered the heavens and the people, or if the heavens were not on his side. After the grand sacrifice, the sky turned dark and threatening. The black clouds were like a big iron pot hanging over his head. Li Er’s face was even more frightening than the sky, and what was even more strange was that there wasn’t even a hint of wind in the air.

The koi in the imperial garden all opened their mouths and kept them open.

Yun Ye had already caught a dozen koi, but Li Chengqian was still lying on the tree in waves, throwing up. He used a fishing rod to catch four more fish, which he put in a basin with a clear conscience. In fact, Xiaoya had long been pestering him to raise goldfish. It was rare to find koi in the imperial garden.

“Yezi, have you always used a fishing rod when fishing?” Li Chengqian really couldn’t bear to watch anymore.

“Yes, sometimes I use a fishing net. What’s wrong?”

“It’s okay, you continue fishing, I’ll throw up first.” Thinking of the locusts in his stomach, Li Chengqian had another bout of dry heaving.

Li Er and the ministers have been deliberating in the Taiji Palace in front for three hours. It is said that the debate is extremely lively.

From the tyrannical demise of King Zhou to the 18 rebellious kings at the end of the Sui Dynasty, from the heavenly connection to the emperor’s lack of virtue, and finally to Emperor Li Er’s strong desire to take his brother’s wife, one can imagine how bad Emperor Li Er’s mood was. He was half-Hui, and it was a tradition for a younger brother to take his brother’s wife. It was a kind of charity, not a lack of virtue. A woman without a husband on the prairie could not survive for more than a few days in the harsh natural environment. The Huis had to take on an extra burden by taking on an extra wife, which put extra pressure on their lives. A woman who marries her brother’s wife has to support her brother’s children as well. How can this be justified by a man’s lust for women?

He was the emperor of the Han people, and he had no pressure in life. There was no such thing as being able to afford to raise a child. All the people saw him as having taken over his sister-in-law and humiliated his younger brother and sister-in-law. His lust was comparable to that of the tyrants Jie and Zhou. They all stood on the moral high ground to accuse and criticize him, which made the arrogant Li Er angry and speechless.

The powerful families of Shandong began to criticize him in writing and in speech. They were proud of their noble family names and resentful that the emperor had demoted many of the powerful families. Their strong belief that family was above all else made them unyielding in the face of the emperor’s authority. They had no way out, and this was a fight to the death.

The fishing cloud Ye knew that in history, Li Er was only half successful, reducing many powerful families such as Cui, Lu, Pei, Wang, Zheng and other traditional families to third class. Due to the entanglement of the locust plague, he was unable to complete his task. It was not until the appearance of Wu Mei, a woman who defied the heavens, that the five powerful families were completely swept into the trash.

The disaster was caused by the emperor’s tyranny and his failure to implement benevolent policies. If the Shandong aristocracy did not take advantage of the situation, they would be letting themselves down. They didn’t care how many people would starve to death, only whether their own status could be maintained. No matter how the times changed, my family would stand for ten thousand years.

Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, and Du Ruxi, these loyalists of Li Er, went forward and backward, arguing sentence by sentence, but with little effect.

Lu Shou and Lu Zian’s faces were covered in pockmarks, but their blood was still pumping. They pointed at the dark clouds outside the hall and shouted, “Heaven be my witness, the Lu family has been a family of scholars for generations, and we have never done anything evil. We have always lived by our destiny, farming, gathering firewood, fishing, and reading. Why should we suffer such a great humiliation? Please, heaven, send down a thunderbolt and reduce me to ashes. I cannot bear to see the noblest life on earth being trampled on and reduced to the level of worms and insects.”

After saying this, he stood outside the main hall and climbed up the rockery, with his arms raised high, waiting to be struck by lightning. This old guy had studied this long ago. The reason for building this rockery was because it had been struck by lightning for many years, and it was hoped that the evil spirits would be subdued.

Today, the clouds are low and the learned men in the family have long expected a lightning strike. The five noble families have already won the game in the main hall. If Lu Shou is killed by lightning again, it will completely seal the victory. As long as the family is passed down, the life and death of an individual is really not worth discussing.

Li Er and the ministers followed him out of the hall and saw the scene in front of them. They were all shocked. They were about to order the guards to take Lu Shou down, but they were stopped by Lu Jiang and Lu Boan. Old Lu smiled happily and said, “Your Majesty, there is no need for this. Zi’an has asked for mercy and received it. He can die under the punishment of heaven, which is what he has always dreamed of. Why should he be stopped? If it weren’t for my old age and frailty, I wouldn’t be able to climb that rockery. Where would this honor be if it weren’t for him?”

These guys are not court officials, they were nominated by the local people using the petition system. They are all old and virtuous, and the imperial power has little binding force on these old guys who are not afraid of death. Their families have long had intricate connections with the court. Once Li Er wants to act, it will be a sea of blood and rolling heads in an instant.

In the face of a major disaster, this is really not a good idea. If things go wrong, there will be a lot of trouble. There is no way to deal with a few old fools when you are afraid of hurting the rat. This makes Li Er’s heart angry and disappointed at the same time.

The sudden gust of wind and the sudden chill of the summer heat, which should have been welcomed by everyone, was undoubtedly a death warrant for Lu Shou in the eyes of the ministers. Looking at Lu Shou Lu Zi’an dancing on the rockery in the face of his impending death, everyone felt cold all over.

“Hey, Lu’s housekeeper, what are you doing climbing so high? Aren’t you afraid of being struck by lightning?” A voice came from the main hall.

The crowd was surprised, but they saw Yun Ye standing on the roof of the Taiji Palace with some long, thin iron bars, asking Lu Shou.

Lu Shou was a little stunned to see someone who was more reckless than himself, but he quickly regained his composure. “Rude boy, I am Lu Shou, Lu Zi’an, the brother of the head of the Lu family. When did you become a gatekeeper?”

“Stop pretending. You are a janitor. I heard Zhao Yanling talk about you. He said you are the Lu family’s best educated janitor, and that I should have the opportunity to ask you about the “Gan Shi Xing Jing” in the future. He also said that you have extraordinary accomplishments in astronomy. Are you interested in becoming a professor at my Yushan Academy?” Yun Ye said as he connected the iron bars one by one and tied them to the highest part of the roof of the main hall. Then he threw the extra iron bars down to the ground, but they had already been connected.

Li Chengqian and Li Tai, who were on the ground, were holding hoes and digging the ground, quickly burying the iron bars in the soil and using their feet to make sure they were secure.

“Kid, what are you doing on the roof? It’s about to thunder, come down.” Qin Qiong was a little anxious.

Fang Xuanling was about to scold him, but was stopped by Li Er, who was full of excitement: “Let’s see what happens. This kid is afraid of death, so he won’t do anything he’s not sure about.”

“Uncle Qin, it’s fine. I have the emperor’s iron spear to protect myself. There will be no lightning to find me.”

Yun Ye looked carefully at the sky, raised Li Er’s two-meter spear and inserted it into the iron ring to fix it. Only then did his heart relax. His grandmother’s father risked being killed by lightning in order to insert the lightning rod. He must ask Li Er for a reward later. It can’t be too light.

Now it’s fine. There is no danger within a 30-meter radius.

Lu Shou glared at Yun Ye, angry that the boy had stolen the limelight from his own heroic death. The martyrdom he had just been brewing was now ruined.

“Old Lu, you have such good knowledge, why are you working as a janitor? Come to the academy, I will ask His Majesty to appoint you as a seventh-rank school official, in charge of books in the academy, and sweep the floor in your spare time. Wouldn’t it be nice to make your ancestors proud?”

“You ignorant brat? Would a grand master like me teach at your third-rate school? Dream on!” Old Lu was furious.

“You old servant, don’t think you can brag after defeating Zhao Yanling. Zhao is now staying at the academy to light the fire. The water hasn’t boiled yet, and I whipped him twice yesterday. He recommended you to me, saying that you boil water well. You don’t even have the face to accept it. A servant is yelling at a noble lord. Is this the way the Lu family is? Yun Ye became more arrogant.

“Lord Yun, calm down. This is indeed the second son of the Lu family, not the gatekeeper. Did Lord Yun remember it wrong?” The evil-smiling Changsun Wuji fanned the flames of evil on the side. Just now, he was scolded by the old guy, so when he got the chance, he would not let it go.

“Really? But when he fought with Mr. Yang from Shu, he said he was the doorman. I saw more than one.”

“Oh? Is that so? No wonder the General would make a mistake. Even I would have made the same mistake. Hahahaha.”

There was a faint sound of thunder in the sky.

“Hurry down, it’s thunder!” Qin Qiong was in a panic.

“Uncle Qin, I told you that with the Emperor’s iron spear protecting me, I’ll be fine. The Emperor has great luck, and I’ll be able to benefit from even a little of it. What’s the big deal with a little thunder?”

“Ignorant boy, you can just wait to die on the roof! Come on! Please, God, strike me down with your thunderbolt and take this ignorant boy with me!”

“Old man, don’t shout. What if I don’t die from being struck by lightning? Why don’t we make a bet?”

As soon as he said this, the faces of the Tang Dynasty officials at the entrance of the hall turned strange, and they all looked at the old men of the Shandong noble family.

Lu Jiang and the other old men looked at each other and then stepped forward and said, “I don’t know what kind of bet you want to make, General Yun.

“I bet that I will not be killed by lightning if I sit on the roof with the Emperor’s iron spear protecting me, and Lu Shou will be fine. The stake is 10,000 strings of cash.”

Before Lu Jiang could say anything, Lu Shou laughed wildly: “Ha ha, you bet, the clouds will disperse in time, and you will become ashes, and you still want money, hahaha…”

With the laughter, dense lightning shot down from the clouds, like snakes, like dragons, like forks. First, it flashed far away in the sky, and then the dull thunder came. Li Chengqian nervously grabbed Li Tai and squeezed him hard, completely ignoring his screams.

Li Er closed his eyes and couldn’t bear to watch anymore. The ministers lowered their heads helplessly, and tears flashed in Lao Qin’s eyes.

The heads of the great families glowed with bloodthirsty coldness.

Only Yun Ye sat on the beast’s head on the eaves of the hall, curiously studying ancient architecture.

The thunder was getting closer and closer, and the wind was getting stronger and stronger. Finally, a bright flash of lightning appeared overhead, and Lu Shou stood on the rockery like a pious martyr.

Yun Ye thought to himself that the previous emperors who built the palace on an uphill slope surrounded by mountains on three sides, which was prone to lightning strikes, were not just looking for trouble for themselves after eating too much.

In front of everyone’s eyes, a lightning bolt aimed at Yun Ye turned a corner and hit the iron spear, sending out a flash of light. It seemed as if a real god was protecting him, and even Li Er began to doubt whether his iron spear was really a magical weapon.

Lu Shou was too exhausted to jump, and no lightning struck him. Today’s lightning seemed to have found the iron spear, and the lightning within a ten-zhang radius was absorbed by the iron spear.

Lu Jiang knelt on the ground, and the spirit of his ambition had disappeared without a trace. His spirit and energy seemed to have slipped away with it. In an instant, the ambitious family head had become decrepit.

Li Tai had long forgotten the prince pinching him, and only saw Yun Ye’s carefree appearance in the lightning. This is the power of the gods. This is the power of the gods.