Chapter 54: Good News from the Old Ox

This vacation was planned by Yun Ye and a few old men. Yun Ye originally planned to tolerate Xu Jingzong for a few months, thinking that he would leave when he got bored. Who knew that as soon as the words came out, he was reprimanded by Li Gang, saying that people in officialdom regard being pushed to the limit as a common occurrence. As long as it is beneficial to his career, they will not stop until they squeeze every last drop of oil out of the academy. They don’t care about the long term, only the immediate benefits. Big, fast, and quick are the four-character secret to promotion. If you can’t give him a place to vent, then his amazing talents will have nowhere to be displayed.

After all, he is a bureaucratic opportunist who has survived two dynasties, and what he says makes sense. Since it makes sense, it must be implemented.

Xu Jingzong had only just arrived at the Ministry of Personnel to register and prepare to take up his post at the academy when Liu Jinbao had already returned on a fast horse. The unscrupulous parents of the academy had several people in the Ministry of Personnel, and it was very easy to get some information.

So as soon as Xu Jingzong left Chang’an, the academy immediately began its annual summer vacation.

I learned from someone who knows that this guy was unable to survive in the Ministry of Works and had to seek refuge in the Academy, where he could make friends with some powerful parents in case he wanted to make a comeback in the future. What a good way to kill two birds with one stone!

He was too proud, arrogant and presumptuous, and offended many important officials. It was rumored that someone was going to get him. It so happened that he was at the academy when he found that the academy was really a good place to plan for the future, so he asked Li Er to let him teach at the academy, and he was actually approved.

I don’t know what Li Er was thinking, or maybe he was just trying to get rid of me.

Yun Ye did not want to think about it, and he could not think about it. If he lost Li Er’s support, the academy would be just a castle on the beach, and it would disappear in an instant.

They could only deal with Xu Jingzong, not target Li Er. This was why the Academy had adopted soft measures instead of a hardline approach.

The Academy is like a big apple, and it must not be infested with a fat worm. This is the secret resolution that Yun Ye made, even if it means using the most vicious of methods.

One month was enough for Yun Ye to move around. A memorial was brought back to the palace by Liu Xian, who was on leave, and Li Er was waiting to decide Xu Jingzong’s fate.

Xu Jingzong could not see Yun Ye or Li Gang, and could only helplessly wait in the courtyard provided by the academy for the arrival of the new semester. He believed that it was only a matter of time before he could master the academy with his own talents, and that Yun Ye and the others were not yet his match.

He had no idea that, out of fear of him, Yun Ye had for the first time ever developed a murderous intent towards a person.

Yun Ye had just eaten a fat bug, and after feeling sick, he just threw up a few times and was done.

Li Ke, however, felt that he had eaten a whole bunch of worms. The construction of the academy continued, and it was going well at first. He was confident that he would finish all the construction before winter. However, his father, upon learning that the academy construction had a large number of new materials and tools that had never been used before, sent him countless officials from the Ministry of Works, ordering him to teach these low-level officials to use the new things.

“Yezi, I don’t want to use these idiots. They don’t know anything on the construction site and won’t learn. They all say they are meritorious officials and only say that using stone to build houses will lose the face of their ancestors.” Li Ke was after all a twelve-year-old boy, and he couldn’t make up his mind. It seemed that only he could help him with this.

“Oh? I don’t care about this. I just want the gentlemen to move in before the first snowfall. What you build is what the gentlemen will live in. Even if there is no roof, it is your business. You deal with it yourself.” After saying that, Li Ke, who didn’t even look at his face, turned and left.

Sure enough, the next day, Li Ke made his presence felt, sending back eleven officials with various connections. All they could expect was to be fired and sent home. With a board raised high, Li Ke glared at the trembling officials with bloodshot eyes, and only then did he feel relieved.

Recently, everything has been going wrong, and his whole life has been filled with depression. Only when he saw Yunzhuangzi gradually becoming prosperous and wealthy could Yun Ye feel better. He had originally planned to live a happy life of leisure and wealth, but in the end, his own selfish desires caused him to never have a moment of peace.

The millet in the fields has just sprouted, and from a distance it looks like a sea of green. The farmers’ faces are gradually clearing up, and even the refugees from outside no longer have a look of panic. The children are healthy like little calves, and the women are hiding at home, counting the copper coins in their hands one by one. Every time they get one more, they are happy.

This is the result of my hard work over the past few months, Yun Ye said to himself.

A great sense of pride welled up in him. He thought about the nameless anger he had felt the other day and laughed. He was just a lowly official, and yet he had been driven to murder. He had never touched human blood in his two lifetimes, and now he was about to kill. How foolish! Although there were countless ways to kill someone silently, he could not use them lightly. If he killed the first person, he would kill the second. If he only had a hammer, then the only way to solve the problem was to smash it. This was too terrible. Qin Shi Huang did this, and the result…

My heart was in a dead end, my eyes were covered by desire, I couldn’t see myself clearly, the copper mirror was blurred, I could only vaguely see the outline, the demon in my heart was released and I could never take it back.

Xitong is not coming back either. I wonder if he has found out. Don’t you know how curious I am about knights? I’ll ask you when you come back.

Are there really two idiots who drink wine from their thighs? Does the heroic knight described in Li Bai’s poems really exist? The closest thing to that now is this silly and cute guy, Xi Tong. I’ve seen guys dressed up as knights on the streets, and my mind is running wild with carriages, but my body feels relaxed, and I have a feeling of floating.

Qian Tong had been standing behind the Marquis, and seeing the Marquis smiling and laughing like a lunatic, he knew that this was his daily compulsory lesson and also his happiest time of the day. He couldn’t bear to interrupt, so he followed the Marquis behind him and woke up.

When the marquis took a long breath, he knew he could speak.

“Lord, Lord Niu is here.”

“What? You said the old master returned to the capital? How come I didn’t know?” Yun Ye’s joy was indescribable. He had a deep respect and love for Niu Jinda, so much so that his behavior was modeled after the old man.

He hurried home, and as soon as he entered the door, he heard the hearty laughter of Lao Niu. The dark clouds in his heart disappeared in an instant, and now that Lao Cheng and Lao Niu were back, all the difficulties seemed to disappear. Lao Niu was such a powerful presence like a sea anchor.

Xin Yue was paying her respects to Lao Niu, and her shyness made Lao Niu laugh heartily. Mrs. Niu took out a delicate hairpin and inserted it diagonally into Xin Yue’s head, then led the silent Xin Yue to the back house.

“The kid has greeted Uncle Niu.” Before she could finish her sentence, Old Niu grabbed Yun Ye and looked him up and down.

“Not bad, you’ve grown taller, and you’ve also found a wife. Good, Old Cheng will be very happy to hear it.” Old Niu’s eyes were full of warmth.

“Didn’t you send troops to Yunzhong? Why are you back now? The next month will be a critical moment. Do you have important business to return to the capital at this time?” Yun Ye thought of the ongoing war and hurriedly asked Lao Niu about his intention to return to the capital.

“Still so hopeless, a major battle can’t start for a while. Which major battle didn’t start until both sides were ready? This time is no exception. Do you think it’s the Warring States period, where a surprise attack can decide the outcome of a war? A surprise attack is something that can only be done after the main enemy forces have been defeated. Repeated surprise attacks will only waste combat power. The current war can only be fought with real swords and spears, relying on strength.”

Old Niu’s mind has not turned around. Li Jing relied on the surprise attack of 3,000 light cavalry to win the battle.

“I came back this time to find you to go to the front line. The Turks have started using the despicable plague tactic again. You formulated the military hygiene regulations, so you must know how to prevent and treat it. Li Jing hopes that you can go to the military to see if there is a good way.”

He never thought he would have the opportunity to participate in the Battle of the North. The thought of the cavalry charging across the plains made Yun Ye tremble with excitement.

“What are you shaking about? You won’t be on the battlefield. You’ll be hiding in the city behind the front line, trying to find a way to deal with the plague. Lao Niu despised Yun Ye’s fighting ability.

“The Turks are just using the old tricks of the Huns, using dead cows, dead horses, and dead sheep to pollute the water source, and using diseased livestock to harm the horses of the Great Tang army.” Yun also looked down on these ignorant peasants’ wild ideas. As long as the hygiene regulations of the Zuowei are strictly enforced, those things will be useless.

“Hmph, don’t be so arrogant. Huo Qubing fell on this very point. The grasslands are vast and there is no water source anywhere. Where can you set up camp? This is common sense. If you have such a mentality, you might as well not go to the front line.

“Of course, I want to see how the cavalry of my Tang Dynasty breaks through the Turks, but there is a bug in the academy, and I must kill it before I can go to the grasslands with peace of mind. Otherwise, my nephew’s hard work will be in vain.”

“You mean Xu Jingzong, right? Your petition to the emperor was rejected, so I had Xu Jingzong sent to the front line. I want to see how this guy plays tricks when he’s in the army. As long as I can catch him doing something wrong, I can chop him up with a knife, and the emperor won’t say anything.” Lao Niu’s words were ruthless.

Yun Ye’s joy was about to burst out of his heart. The character who had been giving him a headache was so vulnerable in the face of Lao Niu’s absolute strength. Yes, as long as he was in the army, Xu Jingzong was indeed just an ant that could be crushed at will.

I just hope he doesn’t get confused. It’s fine if he just works with me in the barracks to save lives and help the wounded. If he has other intentions, he deserves to die.

When he thought of Xu Jingzong avoiding disaster by fleeing to the battlefield, Yun Ye felt sorry for his brother. How unlucky must this person be to end up like this?