Chapter 123 Whose Hongmen Banquet?

Chapter 123 Whose Hongmen Banquet?

Zhao Yushu never wanted to get involved in the political whirlpool of the Tang Dynasty. In his eyes, the better he was to cultivate himself, take a look at the world, explore the infinity of the great way, and do something within his ability, then the trip would be worthwhile. He was not cut out for playing power games.

"You really flatter me. I'm just a commoner. How can I dare to deal with the Duke? As we say in my hometown, if the Duke even looks at me, he has lost." Zhao Yushu refused decisively. He even suspected that General Sun already knew his identity as Mr. Liu. Otherwise, he was just a third-level person and he really didn't think he was worth being won over.

"You've thought too much. You weren't even qualified to be a chess piece in this matter. But, we are very satisfied with your performance over the past two days. Congratulations. You are now qualified to be put in the chess box."

Then wasn't it pure nonsense that you asked me to deal with the Duke? Zhao Yushu wanted to complain, but he knew that General Sun must have something else to say.

“Do you know where the refugees come from?”

"Act of God."

"You dare not even mention man-made disasters."

Zhao Yushu didn't respond.

"Duke Yue wrote a letter stating that the Red Lotus Sect started in Ganzhou and has spread to the south of the Yangtze River. It has become a trend. If Nanyang is lost, the Eastern Capital will be in danger."

Zhao Yushu thought about it and said, "That's not wrong."

General Sun sneered, "It's not over yet. For now, we should use the law to weaken the people, increase taxes and cut off food supplies. There will be great famine in the land. Even if Honglian has the will, he will not be able to do anything."

"Bullshit!" Zhao Yushu slammed the table and stood up. What kind of thing is this? In order to prevent the Red Lotus Sect from becoming bigger, they might as well starve the local people half to death so that they don't even have the energy to make trouble. How could a human being do this?

"Oh, yes, it's bullshit, but the court has acknowledged this fart. Otherwise, what did you see yesterday?"

"What about you? What role do you play here?"

General Sun glanced at him and said, "Me? I'm just a warrior who can't do anything except fighting. What role do I play? Naturally, if someone starts a fight, I will be responsible for pulling out a knife and chopping people."

Zhao Yushu's hands and feet were cold: "You, or you guys, what do you want me to do?"

"The court is not just one person. If there are people who support Duke Yue, there will naturally be people who oppose it. It is naturally not your turn to confront Duke Yue head-on, but you still have a chance to strike at Duke Yue's legitimate son."

"Why would I do this? If you want to talk about Lan Ling, General Sun, you'd better give up this idea as soon as possible."

General Sun was a little surprised: "Then I really underestimated you. Since you said that, Lan Ling can be excluded from the plan. It is a sign of our sincerity. Our goal is to win over the neutral Lan Taishou. If we can destroy his marriage with the Duke of Yue, it would be great."

Zhao Yushu stood up: "Who are you?"

"Is it important? If this is accomplished, I can help you with something."

"I do not need."

"No, you need to. If it works, the 50,000 disaster victims outside can survive. If it doesn't, you will see the blood flowing like a river in Nanyang. Zhao Yushu, you self-righteous scholars are too easy to deal with."

After General Sun finished speaking, he stood up and walked out of the side hall without waiting for Zhao Yushu's reply, as if he knew that Zhao Yushu would definitely not refuse.

Zhao Yushu really couldn't refuse. He understood that the purpose of General Sun taking him to the refugee camp last night was to test whether he had enough sympathy for the refugees. Even if he didn't hang around the gate of the government office last night, General Sun would definitely find him today at the latest.

Perhaps General Sun's previous candidate was someone else, but my intervention at the North Gate yesterday morning allowed General Sun to find a better candidate.

This was originally an idle move, and its success or failure would not affect the overall situation. However, the arrival of Zhao Yushu made it possible for this idle move to become a surprise move.

Zhao Yushu slumped in his chair, and after a while he cursed fiercely, "Fuck these old perverts."

After a long time, the voice of a servant came from outside the door, inviting Zhao Yushu to take a seat. He wiped his face with his sleeve, straightened his clothes and stood up.

I am a chess piece, right? Zhao Yushu walked out of the side hall;

It's a game of life between big men, right? The restaurant is not close, you have to go through two porches;

You want to blackmail me with 50,000 people, right? The door of the restaurant opened, and there was one main table and two accompanying tables. Zhao Yushu was arranged to sit at the accompanying table.

Zhao Yushu glared at General Sun, who suddenly realized what was happening and pulled Zhao Yushu to sit next to him at the main table;

Let’s see who will have the last laugh.

With a ding, an exquisite bronze bell rang, and the maids and servants came in one after another and began to serve the dishes.

Lan Rong sat in the main seat, with General Sun and Dean Wang on his left and right. Next to Dean Wang was a young and handsome man, who must be Wang Shaolin. Zhao Yushu sat next to General Sun, and Lan Ling was arranged to sit next to Wang Shaolin. The remaining seats were occupied by the most prominent officers and deputy generals in Nanyang City.

At the two accompanying tables were famous local gentry and noble families. It seemed that this banquet was nominally to entertain the Duke's legitimate son, rather than a family dinner to entertain the future son-in-law.

After the host opened the show, he began to introduce Wang Shaolin to the guests one by one, and naturally there was a lot of flattery and praise.

The seventh-rank official position of Jiangning's Xiafu Guoyi Duwei is naturally not in the eyes of everyone present, but his father's fiefdom is in Jiangning. Not only is he the future duke, his father is also a duke who has a say, which is a completely different concept.

"General Sun, who is this?" Wang Shaolin looked at Zhao Yushu and asked General Sun with a smile on his face. Zhao Yushu was supposed to sit at the table after entering, but General Sun personally arranged him to sit next to him, which made Wang Shaolin think that he was General Sun's son or nephew.

"He is Zhao Yushu, a scholar from the White Horse Academy. I just met him yesterday. I thought you were both young people, so I asked him to come over to get close to you."

"It's Brother Zhao. I've heard a lot about you." Wang Shaolin didn't believe a word General Sun said. An ordinary scholar, even if he was from Baima Academy, had no right to enter this room today. They just met yesterday. He must be kidding. He was probably just another lowly person who wanted to curry favor with the rich and powerful. He didn't know how he got on to General Sun's big branch and came in today just to make himself familiar.

No matter what they thought in their hearts, they still had to be polite on the surface. After the two of them pretended to compliment each other for a few words, Wang Shaolin immediately changed his target.

"I am here this time mainly to assist Governor Lan in dealing with the rioters under the order of the Emperor. I am young and inexperienced, so I will have to rely on you uncles for your help."

My goodness, in one sentence, the refugees became rioters. Doesn't this mean that the tone of the treatment has been set? Who would dare to mention releasing grain for disaster relief in the future?

All the guests hurriedly said they dared not, and their words showed that they would do their best to assist the captain to get the matter done, and make sure that the captain would return with a beautiful appearance to report. Wang Shaolin had a smug look on his face, and looked like a rare talent no matter how you looked at him.

"There is something I don't understand and I would like to ask the captain for advice." Wang Shaolin heard the voice, turned his head and his smile slowly disappeared.

A guy who got in through connections, it’s ok that he didn’t agree with me from beginning to end, and you still want to ask me questions?

"Brother Zhao, please speak." Wang Shaolin made a gesture of invitation.

Zhao Yushu cupped his hands and said, "May I ask, Commander, according to the order of the Emperor of Xijing, all those outside the city of Nanyang are rioters?"