Chapter 314 Solve the Dilemma
Zhou Mansion, Qilin Pavilion.

Although Zhou Tieyi was conferred the title of marquis, he was so busy with trivial matters that he did not even have time to prepare a marquis banquet.

So even though the emperor has rewarded him with a marquisate in Qinglong City, Zhou Tieyi has not yet had time to move in.

Now there is the Moshi case hanging over my shoulders, so I might as well just stay here for a few days and make a decision after returning from Beijing.

As night fell, the lights in Qilin Pavilion were lit again.

In the preliminary trial of the Bai Ri Mo Shi case, the Zhu Shen Division, the Censorate, and the Ministry of Justice have already discussed reviewing the case from bottom to top, and naturally they need to first go down to the local level to review the Wu family's affairs.

Even if the matter was small, it had been escalated to a higher level, so Zhou Tieyi, the Chief Censor of the Censorate, and the Minister of Justice had to go there in person.

A special investigation team consisting of a marquis, a chief inspector, and a minister was sent down to the local level. Even in the 300-year history of the Great Xia Dynasty, this level of inspection team was only used a handful of times, and each time, no one knew how many people were killed before the case was settled.

At this time, in Qilin Pavilion, Wu Qian, Hao Ren, Mei Juncang, Shentu Yuan and other Zhou Tieyi's confidants sat down to handle the handover before leaving Beijing.

Zhou Tieyi explained some things in detail.

Among them are the future development of the Railway Chamber of Commerce, how to use the "Sleepyhead" incident to continue investigating novelists, how Shen Tuyuan of the Steamship Chamber of Commerce will seize power from his own family, and how Mei Juncang will continue to promote the "Daxia Tianxian" vernacular movement...

After explaining the ordinary things.

Zhou Tieyi thought about it, stretched out his hand, and took out a folded article from the white jade chessboard.

It was the article "On the Infallibility of Kings and Fathers" written by Mei Juncang.

"You know how to use this article. Now it has returned to its rightful owner. I can give it to you without any worries."

Mei Juncang lowered his head to take the article, thought for a moment, and said to Zhou Tieyi, "My disciple has made great contributions to the newspaper, and Si Lu has already requested credit for me. I would like to use this credit to write to the emperor and beg him to forgive my father's sins."

Although Mei Qingchen's "Petition for Apology" was intended for the emperor, it still appeared that he had failed to teach his son well.

Now that Mei Juncang has changed so much, even Si Lu has recommended credit for him.

Naturally, since his son had been well educated, Mei Qingchen had done nothing wrong.

Of course, Mei Juncang's intention was not just to save his father from death.

With this little contribution of mine, even if I reinterpreted the "Daxia Tianxian", it would probably not be enough to redeem Mei Qingchen's "mistake" in the eyes of the emperor.

What can truly atone for Mei Qingchen's sins is "On the Infallibility of the King and Father"!
If the son is well taught, the father is not guilty, the subject is not guilty, and then the Emperor of Daxia is not guilty either!

This article comes at just the right time!
Zhou Tieyi thought about it and said with a smile, "Of course this is not wrong, but if His Majesty wants to reward you, what should you do?"

Mei Juncang groaned in silence and asked, "How would your majesty like to reward me?"

"For example, I would like to appoint you as the temporary president of the Inspection Institute."

As soon as Zhou Tieyi finished speaking, a heavy atmosphere descended even among those present who were all Zhou Tieyi's confidants.

Hao Ren, Wu Qian and Shentu Yuan are no longer the muddle-headed people they were before.

I immediately heard the biggest problem in this reward.

That would be letting the disciple take away the master's kindness!

This is indeed a difficult problem. If he does it, Mei Juncang will be stealing the position of teacher and will be despised by the people of the world. If he doesn't do it, he will be disrespecting the emperor's grace and will naturally have no face to ask the emperor to forgive his father.

Faced with the dilemma of having to choose between his father and his teacher, how should Mei Juncang choose?
Zhou Tieyi did not wait for Mei Juncang to answer, and continued to sigh, "The emperor rewarded me before because I was weak and could only rely on the emperor to survive, so the emperor was not worried. But now it is different. The emperor has completely cultivated himself..."

Zhou Tieyi didn't say the next sentence, but everyone present understood.

If the emperor completely practices Taoism, he will completely fall from the throne. The presence of two emperors would be a great weakening of the emperor, so the emperor's attitude towards handling problems is likely to change drastically.

For example, things that should have made him angry in the past, he may not be so angry now.

Zhou Tieyi looked up at the sky. The moon was dim, but the stars were shining brightly.

"After Li Jianhu filed the lawsuit today, the sky didn't change color."

When everyone heard Zhou Tieyi's words, their hearts sank again.

This not only shows that His Majesty is no longer a saint and can't change the color of the sky with just a thought, but it also shows that His Majesty's current thoughts can no longer be inferred from before.

Mei Juncang frowned. Even with Zhou Tieyi's advice, this dilemma was really hard to resolve.

It’s not a question of whether Zhou Tieyi originally forgave him or not, but a question of how people in the world would view him after he made this choice.

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "Do you want to save your father?"

When Mei Juncang heard this question, he raised his head from his thoughts and looked at Zhou Tieyi in the moonlight.

Three months later, I heard the same question again.

The surrounding scenery is different, the world is different, but the person is still the same person.

Mei Juncang nodded and said, "Yes! I want to show my father that the teacher is right!"

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "Then do it. Our relationship as master and disciple began here. Even if it ends here, it is the cycle of nature. There will be a day when we will meet again in the future."

Mei Juncang pondered silently for a long time, knelt down and kowtowed to Zhou Tieyi, then stood up and left Qilin Pavilion.

Zhou Tieyi looked at Hao Ren, "Go outside and spread the word about the theory that everyone in the world can be a scholar that I said in the Chamber of Commerce the other day. Mei Juncang argued with me about the Legalist school of scholars, farmers, merchants and artisans today, but I scolded him and he left the table in anger. From today on, I will leave Tianjing, and you will be in charge of the rest of my affairs."

Hao Ren was silent for a long time before he asked, "Sir, the emperor will not allow such remarks."

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "People in this world love to argue about right and wrong. Since they all want to be right, let me be wrong. This will also preserve the relationship between Mei Juncang and me as a master and disciple, and between me and His Majesty as a subject." Zhou Tieyi looked at Shen Tuyuan, "If you want to leave, you still have a chance."

Shen Tu Yuan clasped his fists and said, "Why do you say that, sir? I am a rough man and I don't understand the truth. I don't want to care about who is right or wrong. I just follow your lead!"

Zhou Tieyi laughed and pointed at Shen Tuyuan, "You're already three times as capable as me!"

······
The news of Zhou Tieyi scolding Mei Juncang spread like a whirlwind.

Just like how Yuchi Pojun scolded Zhou Tieyi in the Right General’s Mansion that day.

No one believed it at first, but after truly understanding the reason, they felt it was natural.

Everyone in the world can be a scholar.

What a big ideal.

What an arrogant ideal.

This is indeed what Zhou Tieyi could say, and it is consistent with Zhou Tieyi's behavior when dealing with the gangster at the Railway Chamber of Commerce that day.

However, no matter how good this statement is, it will cut off the roots of the Legalists!
Mei Juncang turned to the path of Legalism, and was taught by Si Lu. Now that he is about to edit the "Daxia Tianxian", he naturally has to choose again between the path of Taoism and his mentor.

The second day, in Yunlan Tea Garden.

Now the magnolia flowers have already faded, leaving only layers of green leaves, gathering the golden sunlight from the sky, forming a black and white chessboard on the ground. After several months of growth, the baby birds are able to jump and fly lightly on the forest ground, sometimes landing on the chessboard and sometimes hiding among the leaves.

In the tea garden, there was a man sitting, wearing dark and red clothes and a tall crown on his head. He was drinking tea and waiting in deep thought.

There were too many changes in Tianjing, and even a third-rank strategist like him needed to think carefully about many things.

After Zhou Tieyi finished his practice, he walked briskly into the tea garden, still wearing his training clothes.

"Sorry to have kept Mr. Gu waiting for so long!"

Zhou Tieyi bowed to Gu Yingtian with a smile on his face, as if he was not worried at all about Li Jianhu's lawsuit and Mei Juncang's scolding yesterday.

Gu Yingtian looked at Zhou Tieyi's face carefully. This time he had no taboos.

But after looking for a long time, he couldn't see it, really couldn't see it at all.

He couldn't understand a lot of things. Zhou Tieyi's cheerful expression when he came in was just one of them, and only the smallest part.

Ordinary people would at least look sad if they encountered two bad things in a row, even if they were magnanimous.

But Zhou Tieyi is different.

No one understood Zhou Tieyi from the very beginning, so no matter how strange Zhou Tieyi behaves now, the weirder it is, the more people think that this is what Zhou Tieyi should do, otherwise it would be weird.

Moreover, everything Zhou Tieyi does must have a profound meaning.

For example, that day, in front of so many people from the Railway Chamber of Commerce, he beat that thug with twenty military sticks, and everyone thought it was just a small matter at the time.

But combined with Li Jianhu and Mei Juncang.

This is no longer a trivial matter.

If Zhou Tieyi was just fighting for power before, then now that he is in power, he is putting forward his own political ideas.

It is to compete with hundreds of schools of thought for the orthodoxy!
This is consistent with all of Zhou Tieyi's behaviors.

This also explains why Zhou Tieyi could tolerate Li Jianhu who sued him, but could not tolerate Mei Juncang, his disciple who served him!

The more inexplicable the problem is, the more correct explanation can be found from Zhou Tieyi.

But it seemed that this was not the whole reason, so Gu Yingtian looked at it carefully.

Zhou Tieyi had no reservations. After all, he had been saved by someone else. Otherwise, it would be hard to explain the matter with the dancer Shanyin.

He sat down and said to Gu Yingtian with a smile, "Mr. Gu, did you notice something wrong with my face?"

Gu Yingtian pondered for a moment, "I am stupid. Not only did I fail to see Lord Zhou's face, I also failed to see why Lord Zhou handled the Li Jianhu case in this way."

No matter how good Zhou Tieyi's reasons are, indulging Li Jianhu will ultimately be a disaster.

Many people in this world want to argue about right and wrong.

But there are also many people who don’t want to argue about right or wrong, they just want to see if they can benefit themselves.

Prince Ning and the strategist Gu Yingtian are both such people.

So Gu Yingtian came today to confirm whether Zhou Tieyi could still cooperate.

Zhou Tieyi took a sip of the tea in front of him and suddenly asked, "How long has it been since Mr. Gu came to the capital?"

Gu Yingtian pondered for a moment, "It has been more than 20 years."

Zhou Tieyi nodded and said, "Twenty years is a long time, but compared to the three hundred years that the Zongheng family has been away from the government, it is nothing."

Gu Yingtian's face suddenly changed, "What does Lord Zhou mean by this?"

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "I just want to remind Mr. Gu that the things you see in the temple are different from those in the martial arts world. Mr. Gu can't understand it because he hasn't been in the temple for a long time. No wonder Mr. Gu is so dull."

(End of this chapter)