Chapter 387: Leniency for Confession, Meritorious Service for the Restrained

The turbid waves outside the Fengyu Tower have cleared away, while the lights inside the Fengyu Tower are bright.

The bright light of the ink stone lamp fell, illuminating the changing expressions of everyone at the banquet.

Not only were they unable to immediately judge how much truth and falsehood there was in Li Jianhu's answer, but Li Jianhu's half sentence of poetry also succinctly pointed out that under their sanctimonious appearance, they took the "People's Heart" as the title, but like this turbid wave, the people were afraid to avoid it.

After saying what he wanted to say, Li Jianhu felt refreshed, and the tangle between Zhou Tieyi and Confucianism was mostly relieved. So he bowed to Deng Zhenquan who was sitting in the upper seat and said, "Master Deng, I only have a little knowledge of literature in my mind. I am not a refined person, so I will not bother you with the literary gathering."

He put down his hand and turned towards the corridor stairs. Suddenly he thought of something and smiled at the others, "Thank you all for the luxurious carriage when you came here, but I can walk the way back by myself, so there is no need for you to see me off."

After saying this, he walked downstairs with the youthful vigor and laughter as if he had pulled off a successful prank, like a gust of gentle breeze, passing through the dark and gloomy wind and rain.

In the pavilion, after Li Jianhu left, the people from the noble families looked worried. Of course, they understood the meaning of Li Jianhu's words. Today, he had repaid the favor of the Confucian by answering all his questions. This was the meaning of the luxurious carriage, so he came to participate in today's literary gathering, but he would walk the rest of the way by himself, so the Confucian didn't need to worry about him.

"Mr. Deng, could it be that Li Jianhu has already... ..."

This person speaks very tactfully, but is also very vicious.

Li Jianhu may have already defected to Zhou Tieyi, causing the Confucians to abandon Li Jianhu.

Deng Zhenquan looked normal. He raised his glass, took a sip, and stared at the stormy waves in the distance. Seeing the pedestrians avoiding the waves, he whispered, "The waves at the river head are not bad, but the road is difficult in the human world."

He could easily see the rice-sized dots of people. In such a severe storm, ordinary people were still struggling to make a living...

Suddenly his eyes focused. This was what Zhou Tieyi really wanted to tell him through Li Jianhu!

Regardless of whether this half sentence of poetry was written by Li Jianhu, if it was indeed written by Li Jianhu, Deng Zhenquan personally enlightened Li Jianhu in Tianjing, and naturally knew that Li Jianhu's knowledge at that time was not enough to write this sentence.

That is to say, later on, Li Jianhu came into contact with Zhou Tieyi and learned from him. He benefited from this process and was able to write this poem.

So even if this poem was not said by Zhou Tieyi, it still expressed part of Zhou Tieyi's meaning, but even Li Jianhu himself did not realize this.

After thinking this through, Deng Zhenquan looked coldly at the man who had just called Li Jianhu a traitor, "My disciple has already said that he has to walk his own path in the future. Do you also want to be a Zhulang?"

The person who was just trying to figure out Deng Zhenquan's intention was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect Li Jianhu to walk away from the banquet in anger. Deng Zhenquan not only did not blame him, but confirmed the master-disciple relationship in person.

Although Deng Zhenquan asked Li Jianhu to call him "Master Deng" before, it was more like a primary school teacher. Now Deng Zhenquan obviously wants to regard Li Jianhu as the successor.

And he was the turbid wave? Not to mention whether he could beat Li Jianhu to death, I was afraid that if he talked about Li Jianhu being a traitor to Confucianism again, Deng Zhenquan would beat him to death first.

Just as they were talking, a jade pendant on Deng Zhen's body lit up. He picked up the jade pendant and saw a few words on it: 'The Pacification Office has been controlled, but the situation has changed.'

Deng Zhenquan frowned. When he was in charge here today, he had actually expected that Zhou Tieyi would come to the meeting in person, and he had also expected that Zhou Tieyi would suddenly visit the Pacification Office.

He was not afraid of these changes, because in the past month or so, he had already sorted out the Zhenfusi from top to bottom. Even if Zhou Tieyi arrived at the Zhenfusi, he would have to face the new "Lake Heart Academy Case", thus falling into his own home turf. Officials from top to bottom had already spoken in unison through the aristocratic families, so he was calm and unhurried, and even seemed to be waiting for Zhou Tieyi to arrive at the Zhenfusi.

But the outcome of the matter was unexpected. Neither the literary gathering nor the controlled pacification envoy Zhou Tieyi stopped it, but the situation changed.

He stood up and said, "I have to go to the Pacification Office first."

······
Li Jianhu went downstairs, humming a little tune, borrowed a bamboo hat, and walked through the rain. Even though his clothes were wet, it was much more comfortable than riding in a carriage before.

"Boy, you did a good job reciting a poem just now."

The rising rain and mist were half real and half fake, and a mirage appeared in front of Li Jianhu's eyes.

Li Jianhu was already accustomed to Mr. Panda's magical powers. Just now, he was on the carriage to the Confucian literary gathering. There was no one around to help him with reference. Of course, Li Jianhu did not hesitate to find his beloved Mr. Panda through the Taixu illusory surface to help him with reference, so he was not surprised that Mr. Panda was observing him secretly.

"It is only because of your analysis that I feel relieved. Zhou Hou and Confucianism both hope to see this change in me, so they will try to give in to me in their fights. However, they want me to make this matter clear so that their subordinates will not misunderstand."

Li Jianhu answered in his heart.

Zhou Tieyi nodded without comment, "Boy, I've helped you analyze it, but I have something for you to do."

Li Jianhu's expression became serious, and thoughts emerged in his mind.

"It's been great to enjoy Mr. Panda's help, but is it finally time to pay the price?"

Li Jianhu quickly gathered his chaotic thoughts and said, "Old sir, please speak."

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "You don't have to act so bitter and resentful. Although this matter is dangerous, and you can even say that you are in danger of death, it does not violate your own morality. In a sense, it can even be regarded as practicing your morality."

Hearing Mr. Panda say that he would not violate his moral principles, even though he heard the words "nine deaths and one escape", Li Jianhu showed joy in his heart, and even flattered him, "With the old man here, I can seize this opportunity. After all, I still owe the old man three, uh, six requests."

Li Jianhu originally owed Zhou Tieyi five requests, two of which he had already fulfilled. The first was not to tell anyone about the connection between him and Zhou Tieyi, and the second was that Zhou Tieyi write a novel based on his experience.

But as Li Jianhu asked Mr. Panda for help again and again, Zhou Tieyi naturally added one request at a time. After all, no one would have too much of this kind of thing.

Zhou Tieyi smiled and continued, "Do you remember the 'Bai Li' that we traded in the Grand Illusionary Realm?"

Li Jianhu nodded slightly. He had also participated in the trade fair hosted by Baili through Mr. Panda. "He is a water god, and he lives in Tangzhou Prefecture, around Pingjindu."

Li Jianhu showed a look of realization, and then his eyes turned cold and asked, "Mr. Panda, do you mean that He wants to bring disaster to the people?"

"Although he probably doesn't want to do this, his actions will lead to this result. There is a small dragon vein in Pingjin Ferry, ready to go. Now it is affected by the weather and is about to turn into a dragon and flood. If it is not controlled well, the people on both sides will be in the raging flood. I will not be surprised even if Pingjin Ferry disappears completely in the end."

Li Jianhu was shocked and said, "He actually has such ability?"

"He doesn't have that ability, but the dragon vein has moved, and it's not just him who is involved. Other gods will also join the fight. Now it's raining heavily. If we can sacrifice the dragon vein, the snake, and the 100,000 people on both sides of the strait, I'm afraid someone will take the opportunity to revive the ancient gods of the Huaihe River and the Qi River."

Zhou Tieyi calmly stated his guess.

The best way for the phantom priests to fight for the small dragon vein is to use the small dragon vein and the human sacrifices of the people on both sides of the strait to directly revive the water gods of the Huaihe River and the Qishui River.

The water gods of the two places were killed by Jiang Taiyi, and the god of Panyang Lake was ordered to guard it, which means that the two water gods had a chance to be resurrected.

But it is easy to resurrect a second-rank god, but difficult to keep him.

Especially the water gods and mountain gods, whose roots are in fixed places and they cannot escape at all. They are like chess pieces that are trapped. No matter how many pieces they place, they can be easily taken away by others.

Therefore, even though they knew that there was a possibility that the gods of the two rivers might be resurrected, and even though the Shinto sect had been making arrangements for a long time, they did not easily activate these arrangements, just to wait until now, when all the arrangements were connected.

This year, the Holy Emperor of Great Xia practiced Taoism, and the summer drought and autumn floods caused by the Shintoism, combined with the small dragon vein and the human sacrifices of 100,000 people, awakened and resurrected one of the two second-grade gods. At the same time, Tangzhou Prefecture is close to Taihang Mountain, and the god of Qi River or Huai River was resurrected, which temporarily drew the attention of Great Xia to Tangzhou Prefecture. When the time comes, it will take action again to change the situation in Taihang Mountain, carry forward the past and usher in the future, connect them into one, let the two places jointly defend, and form two real eyes. The chess game will naturally come alive.

"The gods of the Qi River and the Huai River are both second-rank gods."

Zhou Tieyi added.

The happiness in Li Jianhu's heart just now disappeared in an instant, and he smiled bitterly. As expected, the things that Mr. Panda could order were never simple.

The previous two things were simple because they were both based on the need to cultivate one's own relationships. Once it involves what Mr. Panda wants to do with the outside world, it will definitely be earth-shattering.

This also explains a small confusion I had before, why Mr. Panda is so powerful, but he only participates in a medium-quality trade fair. It turns out that the old man has already made a brilliant plan and has been preparing and waiting for this opportunity.

"A second-rank deity..."

Li Jianhu was silent. If he had heard this before, he would have felt that he had no solution. But now, he could find someone to solve the problem. So he speculated, "Does Mr. Panda want me to tell Confucianism or Zhou Hou?"

"Then how do you explain the source of your information? How do you know they don't know this information?"

Li Jianhu was speechless for a moment.

"But that is a second-grade deity..."

Zhou Tieyi said with a very contemptuous laugh, "But they are only second-grade, and they are already dead. If they want to crawl out of the netherworld, you just need to cut the ropes they use to climb out."

······
In front of the Zhenfusi gate, two stone lions stood silently in the rain, watching the countless people coming and going.

A coup d'état had already taken place within the Zhenfu Division. It happened the moment the Zhenfu, Sha Youcheng, returned from the Ning Wang Mansion's villa, Zhou Tieyi's temporary residence.

When it happened, he realized that his meeting with Zhou Tieyi today was part of the other party's plan. The other party was even interested in waiting for him to bring Zhou Tieyi back so as to interrogate the current Zhenfu Division.

Sha Youcheng thought for a moment and did not act rashly.

Since the Confucians have decided to take action against him, just like when Prince Ning's Mansion took action against Huxin Academy, they must be able to control the entire situation. The only variables he can count on are actually Zhou Tieyi and Prince Ning.

King Ning avoided meeting him, and Zhou Tieyi had already given a solution, so Sha Youcheng sat in his main seat as usual, looking at the Confucian envoy, Lu Shanqing, the dean of Lulin Academy, and Yao Qin, the dean of Huxin Academy who had been released from prison, standing in front of him.

Although the Ning Wang Mansion took action to prove that the Huxin Academy case was a collusion with the gods, when Li Jianhu and others escaped, Ning Wang knew that the matter could not be resolved locally, so he did not torture Yao Qin or anything like that. This was meaningless and would not make Yao Qin surrender. Instead, it would destroy the rules that everyone had been tacitly following, rules that were more important than the Great Xia Constitution, and maintained the rights and interests of those rule makers in the court.

The other party is a third-rank Confucian, a disciple of the sage, and is treated favorably by the country. He can be arrested before he is actually convicted, but he will have to stay in solitary confinement in jail.

Lu Shanqing's face became serious. "Sha Youcheng, you framed loyal officials, took bribes, abused the law, oppressed colleagues, and smuggled inkstone, salt and iron. What else can you say with these evidences and confessions?"

As he spoke, Lu Shanqing threw a pile of documents on the table.

Sha Youcheng glanced at the document calmly and found that some of the facts on it were true.

The headquarters of the Tianjing God-Slaying Division was suppressed by hundreds of families and the capital was deserted. How could their local pacification division maintain a large organization with sufficient military force?
The natural way is to obtain resources through force, otherwise who would risk their lives?
The Tianjing God-Slaying Department was unable to do anything because there were no evil gods in Tianjing.

However, local evil spirits continue to occur year after year, so even if the headquarters of the God-Slaying Division is suppressed, the various schools of thought in the local Pacification Division will not be suppressed too much, because they really need the Pacification Division to investigate the evil spirits.

With the power to exercise arbitrary power and even to execute nine generations of a clan, if the local pacification office did not have money, they would naturally find ways to get it, such as smuggling inkstone, salt and iron, by using the pretext that the pacification office was urgently investigating evil, and naturally they could do so unimpeded.

In order to support the armed forces of the local pacification office, the local prefect turned a blind eye, otherwise the money for saving their lives would have to be paid by the government office, and the government office did not have any extra money and food, so the pacification office could only "earn" money on its own!
As long as part of the story is proven to be true, then Sha Youcheng can be labeled a criminal who has committed ten heinous crimes but has been pardoned, just like the Huxin Academy case. And this time, the fabrication of Confucianism will definitely be more perfect than that of Prince Ning and the Pacification Division. After all, this is what others are best at.

The only possibility of pardon is, of course, to confess and receive leniency, or to make meritorious contributions while serving one's sentence.

(End of this chapter)