Chapter 24 - His Majesty says you dont listen (1/2)
General Xue’s family had been loyal and upright for three generations.
What did “loyal and upright” mean? It meant that the continuity of the bloodline was more secure than the imperial family’s, with high ranking generals in every generation. It also meant that the common people, soldiers and cavalry were all familiar with them.
The family’s good reputation only kept strengthening as time went on. Their loyalty and righteousness was widely known. On the outside, their glory was great. On the inside, it was a scythe.
Xue Yuan’s madness was due to these three generations of loyalty and righteousness. The madness he developed from his father’s lap, the madness of leadership, the madness from the countless lives taken by his bloody hands.
No matter how respectful a general from the family might be after three generations of being loyal and upright, it wouldn’t make the Emperor lower his guard against him. After three generations, with the general that had opened the borders, the Xue family, was unshakable. Xue Yuan’s wild behavior, the madness of the general and his madness when groveling, they all made sense.
Because he was afraid that We would punish his son, because he was afraid that his son would hurt his family.
After three generations of loyalty, such a good reputation couldn’t be killed so easily. Killing so coldly, it’ll make his name go down in history as a synonym of infamy. Xue Yuan was quite talented, just very arrogant, and it was better to be openly mad than to be shrewd and hard to read.
Since ancient times, most wise rules have been known to be tolerant of all sorts of people.
Gu Yuanbai, of course, knew what the Xue household was thinking, and he didn’t plan to force this loyal family to die. And, as it turned out, Xue Yuan’s madness was always right below the limit.
Gu Yuanbai had originally wanted the protagonist from the novel to take over his legacy and create a prosperous Great Heng with calm seas and clear livers. He could also take advantage of Xue Yuan’s bad behavior by using the carrot and stick method to restrict General Xue as well as Xue Yuan in the future, and even show the soldiers how magnanimous the Emperor was.
However, Gu Yuanbai was really annoyed by Xue Yuan.
He took the jade pendant from Xue Yuan, and the couple across the river who had been having a tryst in broad light, seeing they had been found out, attempted to escape. “Catch that boy and send him to the abbot,” Gu Yuanbai said.
The guards moved at the command, jumping across the stream like a gust of wind. The man that had stuck his head out was startled and got up, wanting to escape. However, he was a step too slow, and he was immediately captured by the guards who rushed over.
“What are you doing?!” As the man struggled, his red dudou1 fell off. “This is Chengbao Temple! I am a lay disciple2 from the Chengbao Temple. Why are you still arresting me?!”
The guards pursed their lips, frowned, and dragged the man away. As for the woman, leaving her with a garment to cover her body was already benevolent and righteous.
Gu Yuanbai heard the man’s yelling across the river, and, when someone dragged him over, he discovered that this lecherous monk still had a clean and proper appearance. He asked, “Are you a lay disciple of Chengbao Temple?”
The man was pressed down onto his knees, knowing that anyone who could enter and leave Chengbao Temple freely would not be an ordinary person. Obediently, he stopped struggling, but he said with a bitter face, “This evildoer hasn’t cultivated enough to take the vows, so a man loving a woman doesn’t break the law. Sir, I have been suffering in the temple for over two months, and now I can’t help myself, I can’t… everywhere around me are men, and looking at monk faces all day long, I just can’t stand it anymore.”
They were all men, so of course, Gu Yuanbai understood how he felt. Those that weren’t yet angry at him before now were a bit jealous.
Look at that, look at that, a lay disciple, halfway through becoming a monk, and he still got laid more than him.
Gu Yuanbai asked uncomfortably, “Even if you are a lay disciple, you should still realize that you are in Chengbao Temple. If you defile the holy grounds of a buddhist temple, are you still a lay disciple?”
The man looked straight ahead. “My lord, if Chengbao Temple were really a sacred buddhist temple, of course, I would not dare to do something like that.”
Gu Yuanbai squinted and asked slowly, “What do you mean?”
The man laughed and said, “My lord, it doesn’t take much thinking. What I mean is that there are many monks in Chengbao Temple, and their vegetarian diet is very rich.3 They get a full stomach and get stained with oil. As such, this disciple also becomes more daring.”
As he spoke, the man shook his head. “As the saying goes, if the upper beam isn’t straight, the lower beam gets crooked.”
“It looks like Chengbao Temple is already rich and prosperous,” Gu Yuanbai murmured, and he couldn’t help but laugh. “Good. Very good.”
The man looked at him strangely, then looked at the group of guards behind Gu Yuanbai, and finally turned his eyes to Gu Yuanbai again. He looked at him carefully, and, finally, he showed a bit of nervousness.
Gu Yuanbai asked, “Who are your parents?”
The man lowered his head cautiously and replied, “This one’s father is Jingxi Zhang.”
The families of Jiangnan Yu, Huainan Lu, Henan Yang and Jingxi Zhang.
These four were all great merchants, great enough to do business with the Imperial family. Out of the four, Huainan was the one closest to the southern Jinghu region. The families of Jiangnan Yu and Huainan Lu were part of the powerful forces that Gu Yuanbai intended to use to break his enemy’s hands.
Gu Yuanbai could tolerate merchants, and he even looked forward to the emergence of more honest merchants that would push the social and economic development. But he couldn’t tolerate collusion between merchants and local officials. What was a despot? Someone who was stubborn and arrogant and had power would become a despot. The powerful scholar clans from the Qin and Han dynasties had only weakened after the imperial examination system was created. However, in the Qin and Han dynasties, conquering land and population, the scholarly clans had planned everything to their advantage as much as they could, and, at the end, they managed to become a hereditary family.
When they did business, they just did business, but they wanted to have power and collude with officials. After colluding with officials, both the officials and merchants would become very powerful.
The Yang family in Henan was careful and meticulous, and the Zhang family in Jingxi was not far from the Imperial capital. They were used to acting right under the Emperor’s eyes. These sort of merchants were the ones Gu Yuanbai liked.
However, he didn’t expect to meet someone from the Zhang family right there by coincidence.
“In that case, why did you come to Chengbao Temple and become a lay disciple?” Gu Yuanbai asked.
At this time, with the sun high in the sky, Xue Yuan looked at Gu Yuan’s white face and saw that it was turning red from the sun. He said in a particularly considerate manner, “Why don’t we find a pavilion to speak without hurry?”
As soon as he spoke, the kneeling man glanced at him, looked shocked for a moment, and spoke suddenly without thinking. “Young master Xue?!”
Xue Yuan raised his eyebrows and looked at him with a smile.
The kneeling man figured it out in an instant. His breathing suddenly became heavy, and he looked up at Gu Yuanbai subtly, filled with anxiety and excitement. He swallowed suddenly and opened his mouth, but he didn’t dare say a word.
His upper body was still bare, and there were scratches and red marks from branches and leaves on his body. When looking at the young emperor, it was easy for his expression to be misunderstood.
The guard captain shouted, “Shameless!”
The man shook violently and quickly bowed to the ground, “Your servant Zhang Hao pays homage to the Emperor!”
Before Gu Yuanbai could speak, Xue Yuan sneered and asked, “Greeting the Emperor without clothes?”
Zhang Hao’s face went red and he was unable to say a word.
At this time, the guard who had gone ahead to look at the route came back. “Your Majesty, there is a pavilion ahead. This official also met someone sent by Grand Imperial Concubine Wan who informed me that she was tired and had already returned to the village ahead of time.”
Gu Yuanbai nodded and followed the guards to the pavilion. Xue Yuan followed at the end, with his hand on Zhang Hao’s neck. Zhang Hao was trembling, looking very afraid of Xue Yuan.
Xue Yuan asked, “Do you like women?”
Zhang Hao cautiously replied, “Master Xue, I only like women.”