Xu Wei nodded and said,
"I think it's feasible. We haven't shown our faces since returning from Yun-Gui... Look at the rampant rumors now, we should give some explanation, otherwise the people will be even more unsettled."
Wu Cheng'en had no interest in these matters and no burdens. He continued from where he left off, "Regarding the great demons of Shituo Ridge, I think it's not said appropriately... Zi Xuan, these three wicked beasts are, in the end, the karmic connection of the Bodhisattva, and the Bodhisattva will eventually come to subdue them. But who will subdue the rampant great demons now? It's clear they are not the same thing..."
Zhu Mo chuckled,
"Alright then, I'll ask you, the sins committed by the three great demons, whose karma is it? On whose head does it fall?"
Uh,
Wu Cheng'en thought for a moment and said, "It should be attributed to the gods and buddhas... Who told them to concoct this journey to the West? It's their fault."
Zhu Mo nodded, deciding not to debate the 'Honghuang' school with him for now. According to the 'Honghuang' school, the journey to the West was a conspiracy by the Western Teachings and the Three Pure Ones, aimed at controlling the Heavenly Court. These things, once spoken, would take a long time to explain, and Wu Cheng'en would definitely get bogged down in it.
At this moment,
He just thought of another matter—
He remembered a great god on a certain forum posting about a dynasty change, where a disfavored vassal, believing the new dynasty would not last long, thought that he or his descendants might still have a chance to turn things around. To achieve this, he needed to make the new dynasty lose popular support, making its rule unstable. The method this vassal conceived was arguably the most vicious in history. He found many defeated soldiers, disguised them as soldiers of the new dynasty, and conducted extremely insulting and cruel sweeps of towns and villages. No matter the old or young, weak or women, all were massacred by these disguised new dynasty soldiers, village after village, city after city, in extreme brutality.
ID-563743675
And the common people, who knew nothing of the new or old dynasties and had never seen soldiers of the new dynasty, thus believed that these atrocities were committed by the new dynasty. For the next three to four generations, they hated the new dynasty to their bones. And the new dynasty, which had gained wide popular support, could not gain a foothold in this vassal's territory. In the fifth generation, this vassal's descendants, under the guise of settling old scores, incited the populace to rebel, and succeeded!
Alas, those common people, mistaking the enemy for their father, whose ancestors were cruelly massacred by this vassal's family, their descendants then became sacrifices to this vassal's descendants...
At that time,
He remembered it very clearly. After reading it, he felt a chill all over his body. Its terror was a hundred times greater than that in Journey to the West, and it left him depressed and unhappy for three to four years.
At this very moment,
He thought of the Yan family and Prince Yu each claiming the path of sages, and immediately thought of this. If the Yan family were to use this method, under the guise of reform, to launch destructive and insulting attacks on the common people of the four classes, then Prince Yu would become the most unfortunate scapegoat. By then, the world would hate the Zhu family to their core, and Jiajing would have no choice but to cast him out to appease the populace.
Thinking of this,
Zhu Mo said calmly,
"Old Wu, since the karma belongs to the gods and buddhas, why not go all out? If certain people were truly great demons, they would, in the name of saving the world through the journey to the West, massacre the entire city until it was a sight of unbearable suffering. When the pilgrims arrived, they would be attacked by resentment, and all the vengeful spirits would believe the atrocities were committed by the pilgrims...
At that time, even Guanyin Bodhisattva would be afraid. To clear herself of the karma, she would simply ignore it. Thus, this Shituo Ridge would become the burial ground for the pilgrims, and those vengeful spirits would cling to the pilgrims, and the great demons wouldn't even have to act. They would eat Tang Monk's flesh... And all the gods and buddhas, not wanting to get involved in this vicious karma, would pretend not to know. Thus, the three great demons would reign here forever..."
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Hiss!
Hiss!
Wu Cheng'en was immediately stunned, and even Xu Wei felt a chill down his spine...
This is too vicious!
This is what a true great demon is!
But,
Is this something a human would do?
Wu Cheng'en gasped and said,
"Zi Xuan, you are not like these people. Where did you hear this? Such a calculation can only be described as utterly wicked, entirely demonic..."
Xu Wei, after all, had experienced many storms. At first, he was greatly shocked, but after a moment's thought, he let out a sigh and shook his head.
"There's nothing strange about this... What would those who have lost power not do? Isn't supporting rebels for one's own advantage the same? Alas, if everyone were as mindful of karma as you, Zhong, how could there be so much cruelty?"
He was thinking of Yang Bo.
Before defecting to Hu Zongxian, about ten years ago, Yang Bo was the governor of Xuan-Da. Wasn't Qiu Luan doing the same thing back then? And for the sake of preventing the Tatars, wasn't he pushing the border civilians to their deaths? If he hadn't seen too many wicked people, why would he have helped Zhu Mo after meeting him?
Wu Cheng'en stared blankly for a while, then said dreamily,
"Saying it like this, my great demons are better then?"
Zhu Mo said with emotion,
"Naturally. How could your great demons have such cruel calculations? At most, it's just the behavior of their beastly nature. Isn't that what beastly nature does? It's much better than the great demons of the human world..."
As the three chatted,
Looking at the bustling crowd, they were suddenly filled with sorrow—
What kind of person was Yan Shifan, how could he not do something like this?
From all indications, the Yan family likely intended to do just that...
In their consideration, if they didn't seize this opportunity, they would be dealt with by the Emperor sooner or later, so they might as well take a gamble and confront the Zhu family!
Zhu Mo thought for a moment and decided to return to the capital.
Firstly, he absolutely had to figure out what Jiajing was thinking; secondly, if the Yan family were truly going to do this, then he would still be in danger. But the most dangerous place was often the safest, and Chaotian Temple was the most suitable place to take refuge. This time, he would quietly go back. If it really didn't work out, he would go to Xuan-Da. If the Yan family went berserk, he could still raise an army to protect the throne!
Thinking of this,
He said sternly,
"Brother Wenchang, Old Wu, I still need to return to the capital and go back quietly. Wandering around this jianghu is still not appropriate... What about you? What are your plans?"
Wu Cheng'en never sought trouble, and he smiled,
"I came out this time intending to go to Yongchang Prefecture in Yun-Gui. I have a good friend there whom I've been meaning to visit for years, but I've never had the time! This time, I'll just stay in Yongchang Prefecture for three to five years."
Xu Wei then said,
"Zi Xuan, you understand my intentions. Naturally, it's time to lie low. But if the situation improves later, and you still want to reform, you must come and find me. I'll return to Shanyin and become a Daoist priest."
Mhm, mhm,
All three felt that their encounters in this life were rare. In recent days, they had almost forgotten all the worldly dust, which was truly incomparable to even immortals. Yet, in a blink of an eye, these days were gone in a flash.
The three were filled with emotion and spent another month or so enjoying themselves.
...
Hangzhou,
Ci Ren Ancestral Temple.
Zhang Yu and Zhao Zhenji had both taken office.
Although their positions were not as high as Zhang Juzheng's, they represented Yan Song and Xu Jie respectively, and were imperial envoys dispatched by Prince Yu with the imperial decree for regency. Zhang Juzheng naturally felt a great headache.
Since then,
The Ci Ren Ancestral Temple, the hub of reform, was no longer as busy as before. Zhang Juzheng spent a lot of time and energy dealing with these two imperial envoys. Many matters were concluded, and new ones were not started. Shen Shixing had returned home, Zhang Siwei and Ma Ziqiang were merely going through the motions, and Gui Youguang also wanted to take leave these few days, saying he wanted to go home to study and teach.
A vigorous reform thus appeared rather desolate. Every time Zhang Juzheng entered or exited, though the flowers and trees were still pleasing to the eye, his mood was melancholy.
On this day,
His thoughts were even more troubled.
Because Zhang Yu had proposed a strategy, stating that the silk industry should be returned to the path of sages, and the path of sages was embodied in the respect for hierarchy and order, ensuring that the poor and humble people, upon becoming rich through workshops, would not be arrogant and suppress the aspirations of the scholars in the villages, saying that if this continued, people's hearts would not be as they once were.
This, of course, was utter nonsense!
But since they represented Yan Song, he could only listen with a smile. Moreover, with his extraordinary intelligence, he naturally guessed that the Yan family's move had more practical intentions behind it.
And these intentions were none other than two:
One was to disrupt the industrialization of silk, and the second was to harvest.
Especially the latter, which was the fundamental goal of the Yan family. After all, after nearly two years of the silk industry, the official bank was making a fortune every day. Who wouldn't be envious? But to hand it all over to the court, to the national treasury, wouldn't that be too much of a pity?
Zhang Juzheng just couldn't ascertain the Yan family's specific methods for a while, and couldn't figure out how to resist safely, which was why he kept delaying.
But yesterday,
Zhang Yu could no longer hold back, and Zhao Zhenji's attitude suddenly became ambiguous. This made him even more worried.