Chapter 134: Calling the Wind and Rain

Chapter 134: Calling the Wind and Rain

Chapter 134: Calling the Wind and Rain (Subscription Request)

After some discussion between Mr. Hu and the other gentry, they went to their own ancestral hall to see the old grandfather.

At this time, Old Master Hu was praying to his ancestors in the ancestral hall. Hearing the noise, he slowly stood up.

Mr. Hu hurried forward to support Old Master Hu and told him the general situation.

Old Master Hu nodded: "At the critical moment, we must dare to give up. This is the reason for the longevity of the family. How are the children of the family branch that I asked you to arrange for in the Fushe now?"

"They really like the learning of the Fushe Society and have integrated well into the group. I followed your instructions and only supported them financially and did not interfere in other ways."

Old Master Hu nodded and said, "We should always look at the long term when doing things. It was just an idle move at the beginning, but now it seems that it was a brilliant move."

Mr. Hu was puzzled: "They are not core members of the Fushe Society, how much influence can they have?"

Old Master Hu: "We don't need them to have much influence on Fushe, as long as they can develop steadily in Fushe. And, we have to give them a credit next."

Mr. Hu: "Merit?"

Old Master Hu: "From what I've seen of Xu Qing, even if he's aggressive, he's always careful about everything. Since he's going to survey the land, he can't just use the old yamen clerks. His first blow will be to you, and the second blow will definitely be to the yamen clerks. Otherwise, the land survey in Jiangning Prefecture won't be done at all."

Mr. Hu was shocked: "Then you asked me to secretly encourage those clerks to help fight against Xu Gongming in the future."

Old Master Hu stroked his beard and said, "If Zhang Tai'a doesn't support Xu Gongming, then we can use them to make trouble for Xu Gongming. From now on, Xu Gongming's influence in the government will be greatly reduced, and we naturally don't have to be afraid of him. Now that Zhang Tai'a has made his position clear, Xu Gongming has the support of the central government in Jiangning Prefecture. Even if you work together, it will be like an egg hitting a stone. Xu Gongming will naturally eliminate them and make room for those members of the Fushe Society who have no hope of passing the imperial examination."

Ordinary scholars have no hope of passing the imperial examinations and their future prospects are very narrow.

The philosophy of the Fushe Society emphasized practical application rather than family background, which at least gave psychological support to the lower-class scholars.

With Xu Qing's prestige, it was entirely feasible to let some scholars from poor families take over the positions of clerks in the government office.

Moreover, the affairs of the government are simple. As long as the scholars study hard, they will generally not make mistakes.

Moreover, if one wants to continue taking the imperial examinations, one can choose not to be registered and directly ask for a temporary assignment to work for the government office.

Mr. Hu said with regret: "If there is no restoration society, even if Xu Gongming is surveying the land in Jiangning Prefecture, we have plenty of ways to stop him from going ahead."

He had to admire the old man's sharp vision. He saw the unusualness of Fushe and made moves in advance.

Old Master Hu glanced at Mr. Hu and shook his head, saying, "Don't think about winning or losing in this world, or fighting for pride. The foundation of our existence in this world does not lie in how much land, population, or money and food we get. These are simply insignificant."

Mr. Hu was curious: "If we don't fight for these, then what should we fight for?"

Old Master Hu: "Look at those ivy clinging to big trees. They don't need to work hard, they can grow well. What we are is ivy. What we need to do is to cling to big trees. Whether it's Xu Qing, the prefect, or the officials in the court, or even Your Majesty, they are not just names, but actually big trees."

At this point, his voice sank: "The most frightening thing is that you are a green vine, but you think you are a big tree. Do you understand?"

Mr. Hu was shocked and said, "I understand now."

Old Master Hu: "You are still young, so it's right that you don't understand. Fortunately, you have learned to judge the situation this time, and you will not bring disaster to the family after all."

Mr. Hu: "Why didn't you remind me before? What if I made a mistake?"

Old Master Hu chuckled.

Mr. Hu felt a chill down his spine.

He bowed to the old man, knowing that from today on, he was the real head of the family in the old man's heart.

Mr. Hu felt deeply moved that the old man’s decades of official career were not in vain.

He felt a little depressed again, knowing that he could never become that big tree.

Why can Xu Gongming do it?

He thought of everything Xu Qing had done. Apart from being brave and fierce, it now seemed that he had a plan at every step. Could this man really be a supernatural being?

He thought deeply and realized that, in the final analysis, it was because Xu Gongming himself was talented enough that he was able to take advantage of the situation.

For example, in martial arts, the so-called Tai Chi emphasizes the use of a small force to move a large object, and you also have to be able to withstand a force of a thousand pounds.

If it were him, and he followed Xu Qing's path step by step, he would surely be crushed to pieces.

Because he doesn't have as strong talent and martial arts as Xu Qing.

However, if we cooperate with Xu Gongming in surveying the land this time and set an example for the whole country, haha, those gentry in Nanzhili will definitely feel very uncomfortable.

When he thought of this, Mr. Hu actually felt a sense of pleasure in revenge after being abandoned by them.

Mr. Hu then said goodbye to the old man and prepared to go to Yingtian Prefecture to meet Xu Gongming.

Old Master Hu watched him go away, looked up at the sky leisurely, and whispered to himself: "Zhang Tai'a, you are also a precocious person. When you meet such a person, are you more happy or... more afraid?"

As he spoke, he began to laugh.

In order to watch this excitement, he would have to try his best to live a few more years.

...

...

Yingtian Prefecture, Xu’s residence.

In his own small courtyard, Xu Qing followed the Xiantian finger's route to move his Qi and blood. After a while, the Xiantian Qi condensed and his mouth began to drool.

He slowly swallowed the saliva.

This is also what Xiantian refers to as "jade liquid and nectar".

After taking it, Xu Qing immediately felt relaxed all over, refreshed, and as if he was floating in the air.

He suppressed this thought and slowly condensed his qi and blood.

I just felt that the surging energy and blood in my body was more condensed and heavier than before, and it felt a bit like carrying lead and mercury.

"What a pity. The Xiantian Finger is just a magical power that combines magic and martial arts. It is not a complete Quanzhen Dao inheritance technique."

Xu Qing knew clearly that this Xiantian Finger was to condense the essence, energy and spirit to form "Jade Liquid". At the critical moment, relying on the "Jade Liquid" to perform the Xiantian Finger, it would become an invincible unique skill.

In fact, the use of this unique skill to fight against the enemy is secondary; the most important thing is to condense the "Jade Liquid".

This is the foundation of Quanzhen Taoism's extremely profound inner alchemy method.

One step further is "Huan Dan".

In Quanzhen Taoism, the method of making the Jade Liquid Elixir is first recommended by the "Zi Fu Yuan Zong" of Zi Yang Zhenren, the founder of the Southern School of Quanzhen Taoism.

Xu Qing practiced the Xuantian Visualization Method and the Golden Light Mantra, one for the soul and the other for the body, the two complemented each other but could not be integrated into one.

If one wants to completely integrate the two, one actually needs advanced inner alchemy methods to harmonize the dragon and the tiger so that they become one.

By then, the spirit and the martial arts will advance hand in hand, and there will be no distinction between them.

For example, Zhenren Chongyang and Zhenren Ziyang took this path.

Xu Qing thought that since his predecessors had been able to do so, he naturally had a chance as well.

"Refining the Jade Liquid is an internal medicine, but humans are between heaven and earth, and they need to absorb the essence of heaven and earth. Internal medicine alone cannot completely replace it. External medicine is still needed." Xu Qing thought of the Sanqu Lingshen that Feng Wu refused.

He was not greedy for the elixir, he just felt that he should pay more attention to information in this area in the future.

However, elixirs are indeed hard to find. The occasional traces of them have long been divided up by other aristocratic families or presented as tribute to the royal family. He has just started out, so it will be difficult for him to catch up in this regard.

On the contrary, King Lin has better luck overseas and it is easier for him to find things that are helpful for his cultivation.

Xu Qing recalled that not long ago, Lao Lin had sent him a large clam, which was bigger than a washbasin. The clam juice boiled from it was not only delicious, but also somewhat beneficial to his martial arts energy and blood.

No wonder, in the notes of our predecessors, some practitioners chose to go to sea after being unhappy with the secular world.

In the final analysis, we cannot compete with others on land, and it is easier to obtain cultivation resources overseas.

Isn’t that what Lao Lin is like!
Xu Qing comforted himself.

After he finishes the work at hand, he will find an opportunity to go out to sea for some fun.

Xu Qingkou was dissatisfied with his uprightness for a while.

Not long after, guests came to visit Xu's house.

He went to meet guests.

"Master Hu, how come you have time to come to Tianjing City?"

Mr. Hu asked someone to put down a box of gifts and said, "I heard that Xu Jieyuan just proposed marriage to the inspector. I happened to be passing through Tianjing City and came to congratulate you."

Xu Qing tried to hold back his laughter. It was hard for Mr. Hu to lie with his eyes open and come up with such an excuse. He smiled and said, "Thank you, Mr. Hu. I wonder if there is anything else."

Mr. Hu said solemnly, "That day Xu Jieyuan urged us to write a petition to 'remeasure the land'. After I went back, I thought about it and finally understood Xu Jieyuan's sincere intention. Unfortunately, many of them misunderstood at that time. After I figured it out, I called everyone together and decided to apologize to Xu Jieyuan."

As he spoke, he bowed deeply to Xu Qing.

Xu Qing quickly stepped aside, "What a shame."

Mr. Hu said solemnly, "I know that some gentry in Nanzhili have heard about this matter recently and think that we are not petitioning sincerely, but are forced by Xu Jieyuan. I came to Yingtian Prefecture to clarify this matter to everyone. This matter was all done voluntarily by us. We are sorry for Xu Jieyuan's hard work, and even more sorry for the court..."

When he said this, he covered his face and cried.

This time, the sleeves cried even without pepper and other spices.

After all, it really is cutting flesh.

Let alone this box of gifts, which were carefully selected, it would be a lie to say that I didn't feel pain. Moreover, I had to coordinate with the land survey later, which was another huge expense.

Of course, if you don't want to curry favor with Xu Qing, it's fine to not give gifts and just cooperate with the "land survey".

But we must have a long-term vision.

If you don't get on board now, people will call the shots in Jiangning Prefecture in the future, and your family can pay taxes as much as they want in terms of land. All they need to do is to do something about this, and within a few years, the Hu family will be in decline.

Moreover, the reason why gentry can run rampant in the village is because of their say in local governance.

If they are kicked off the table in the future, those unruly people and slaves will naturally look down on the Hu family and thus leave. If this continues, what will happen?

In fact, it is true that the gentry became powerful due to the serious land annexation in Southern Zhili. However, the gentry also faced a serious problem.

That's the slave bullying his master.

Today, the area south of the Yangtze River is already experiencing undercurrents.

Each wealthy family was interested in strengthening their own military forces to prevent slave rebellion.

Therefore, burning incense and practicing martial arts became popular among the people. It was not only an active behavior of the gentry, but also a forced behavior.

In order to strengthen their military power, they had to exploit their tenants and slaves more. The more they exploited, the more dissatisfaction the lower classes became.

Therefore, they colluded with the government, concealed the land and population, and transferred taxes to ordinary people. In addition to the gentry's instinct to seek profit, they also wanted to divert their own master-slave conflicts.

Over the past hundred years, the amount of land paying taxes in the country has been reduced by half, and the burden on the people has become increasingly heavy. It has to be said that this is partly the reason.

This is also one of the main reasons why Xu Qingfushe’s proposal was quickly supported in Jiangning Prefecture.

He was practical and useful in explaining the current major contradictions in Jiangning Prefecture, Nanzhili, and the entire world, and did not ask about one's background, proposing that "every man has his share of responsibility for the rise and fall of his country."

This also has a certain appeal to ordinary powerful gentry.

After all, the Fushe's proposition clearly pointed out that once the world is in chaos and there is no order, it will cause great harm to everyone.

The Fushe Society advocated the re-establishment of a more stable order and the easing of conflicts among different classes.

Although this is impossible to achieve, at least there is a pie in the sky.

Those who have read books know very well that great order comes after great chaos, because only then is it easier to re-establish order.

If there is no major chaos, it will be like the Western Jin Dynasty, which inherited the problems of the Han Dynasty and its founding would be the end of the dynasty.

Xu Qing was of course aware that Fushe’s ideology was empty and full of ideals.

But you have to have the framework first to attract people, and how to fill it later can only be answered through practice.

Ultimately, no matter what you want to do, you need talented people.

As long as more and more people join his ship, a new interest group will naturally be formed to fight against the old forces, thereby preserving itself, and then there will be a chance to benefit the world. It is just a chance.

By then, the probability that the people on his ship will become new evil dragons is higher.

Xu Qing couldn't think so much now. He had to survive in the world first before he could have a future.

Only by getting out of today can there be tomorrow.

Only if you can leave Jiangning Prefecture can you rule the world.

After Xu Qing and Mr. Hu exchanged pleasantries for a while, they finally got to the point and asked, "Master Hu, do you still remember the tea you drank at the government office last time?"

"Remember, it is indeed extraordinary."

Xu Qing smiled and said, "It's not that I would call it extraordinary, but it does have some unique features, but that's not very important. I'm planning to start a tea business, is Mr. Hu interested in investing?"

Mr. Hu: "The tea business is very competitive. What advice does Xu Jieyuan have?"

Xu Qing explained his general idea, which was to invite Xie Quan and other famous people in Yingtian Prefecture to hype it up, and then add some erotic stories to add color. But this was not the core point.

Xu Qing finally said, "The real profit of tea lies in the sea trade, and the same is true for silk. I intend to open up this trade route."

Mr. Hu thought of the relationship between Xu Qing and King Lin. This guy is now a well-known pirate in the East China Sea, but he has also offended big gangs such as the Haisha Gang and the Giant Whale Gang, and he has also offended the Dongyi people. The situation on the sea is now as dangerous as Xu Qing's before.

Mr. Hu knew that although maritime trade was risky, the profits were also huge. After going out to sea, the profits from silk and tea were often more than thirty times, which was really a great opportunity.

The reason why the Duke of Wei's Mansion was so powerful and was known as the uncrowned king of the southeast was because it made huge profits from maritime trade.

The imperial court has always coveted this benefit, but it has found it difficult to find a way out.

Could it be...

Mr. Hu was lost in thought, swallowed his saliva, and said, "I don't know anything about business, I just follow Xu Jieyuan's lead."

Xu Qing smiled: "I heard that Mr. Hu has several dyeing factories and tea plantations..."

"I'll take them all out and invest in the company." Mr. Hu immediately expressed his opinion.

After all, these country gentry could only make a living from these things. If they could cooperate with Xu Qing and directly get involved, the huge profits they would get would be more than ten times what they made before.

Xu Qing nodded and said, "There will definitely be other friends coming to visit me later. We are all from the same hometown, so we will meet each other sooner or later. This time, we will get to know each other better. I'd like to trouble Mr. Hu to take the trouble to send them away for me, and tell me what we just discussed."

Mr. Hu was pleasantly surprised: "Xu Jieyuan asked me to come forward and explain to them?"

Xu Qing: "Could it be that Mr. Hu feels that this is too hard? Then I will ask for help from a better person?"

"No, no. I am willing to do my best for Xu Jieyuan." Mr. Hu felt refreshed as if he had taken a panacea.

Arriving early does bring good things.

Xu Qing then took out a token and handed it to Mr. Hu.

Mr. Hu accepted it with joy, then said goodbye and left.

He was afraid that if he left too late, someone else would come and take the job from him.

After Mr. Hu left, Su Lianqing came out and asked in confusion, "Sir, why did you just throw such a good thing to him?"

Xu Qing: "Professional matters should naturally be left to professionals. We certainly don't know as much about these gentry and powerful families as Mr. Hu. And the distribution of benefits is a big subject."

Su Lianqing seemed to understand something. "So that's how it is. Mr. Hu went to wade into this muddy water first. If there is any injustice later, they will definitely come to you for justice. Then you can either punish Mr. Hu or show them some favors to win their hearts. If you firmly control the right to speak from the beginning, they will pretend to be convinced on the surface, but they will not be convinced in their hearts."

Xu Qing smiled casually: "It's not that complicated. In a word, it's hard to do things, but it's easy to find mistakes. We are big now, and there is no need to try many things ourselves. We can cross the river by stepping on the stones found by others."

The Prime Minister used him as a knife and stepped into a trap.

Now he is also using others as knives and falling into traps.

Alas, people will gradually become the person they hate the most.

...

...

When Mr. Hu left Xu's residence in Tianjing City, he knew that Xu Qing was using him as a pawn to test him, but the problem was that this was also an opportunity that he had to fight for.

Authority is something that cannot be given to others, even if it is poison.

He even began to admire Xu Qing more.

When having all the advantages, he did not kill the enemy utterly, but instead assessed the situation and advanced and retreated freely.

This person is truly a person who can "call the wind and rain" and cannot be judged by common sense.

Xu Qing's fundamental intention in taking them was not to kill them all, but to establish his authority.

Mr. Hu understood very well that if Xu Qing killed them all, the order in Jiangning Prefecture would soon be in chaos, which would not be worth the loss.

The problem is that Xu Qing is sure that they dare not fight to the death.

Cooperating with the land survey is just a matter of paying taxes, but to the extent of fighting to the death is to disregard one's own life and death. Which is more important?
They are old loaches, not hard-boned mud legs.

The peasant has nothing left, so naturally he is left with only his bones.

Mr. Hu actually had a good reputation in the village. If he "met" someone who had no land or coffin to bury his parents, he would generously donate money to buy that person a thin wooden coffin and a piece of land for a grave.

There is certainly some showmanship involved, but the story is real.

Sometimes, when he sees the people he helped being grateful to him, he feels warm in his heart. It is a different feeling.

"Xu Gongming said 'to follow one's conscience', does this count as one's conscience?" Mr. Hu vaguely felt that it did.

The more he got to know Xu Gongming, the less he hated him.

"The doctrine of the Fushe is indeed weird. It is used to finding excuses for people's behavior. No wonder ordinary people are easily bewitched by it." Mr. Hu sighed secretly.

Doctrines and teachings that can easily mislead people have always had a great influence.

In order to keep up with the times, Mr. Hu decided to study the ins and outs of it carefully.

Being a squire is not easy, you need to keep up with the times to avoid being eliminated. If Xu Qing is successful in the future, he will surely gain power, so the knowledge of Fushe will also become a prominent school.

As a human being, once you have hope, you can't help but look into the long term.

He actually hoped that Xu Qing would succeed now.

The main reason was that the gentry in Nanzhili and the old friends in the capital were too ruthless. They could actually get the Prime Minister to issue such an order to deal with the gentry in Jiangning Prefecture.

...

...

As the news of Lord Liang's departure from the capital spread, fierce bargaining and struggle over the policy of "surveying the land" also continued in the capital.

At this time, Jiangning Prefecture, which served as the fuse, has faded out of the sight of high-level struggles.

After all, they could see that as long as this matter was discussed, the Prime Minister would lean on the banner of deceiving the emperor. Bringing up this matter would only give the Prime Minister a living target.

So I can only pretend to be blind.

Even more people were resentful of the wealthy people in Jiangning Prefecture.

If they fought to the death, the high-ranking officials in the capital who opposed the land survey would appear to be righteous and could even help them avenge themselves and kill Xu Qing.

Jiang Ning is a coward, he has no sense of the overall situation at all!
This is their true evaluation of Mr. Hu and others.

On the other hand, the ship that Liang Ge Lao was on arrived at the port of Wuzhong County.

Unfortunately, Lord Liang fell ill and was unable to get off the boat.

The magistrate of Wuzhong County went on board every day to greet and inquire about the news. He got a little wind that it was the magistrate Wu of Jinyang Prefecture who sent a pair of twins to Lord Liang.

Elder Liang is old and his energy is declining, so a small problem occurred and he needs to rest.

Therefore, the matter of Jiangning Prefecture has to be postponed.

The interior of the ship is low-key and luxurious after careful decoration.

After being taken care of by Nong Ying and Nong Yue, Lord Liang felt relaxed and lay on the soft and fragrant bed.

After a while, a confidant came to greet him.

"Lord, I heard that many wealthy people in Jiangning Prefecture went to Yingtian Prefecture to apologize to Xu Jieyuan. What should we do next?"

Elder Liang stroked his beard and said, "No hurry, wait a little longer. Anyway, the imperial edict didn't specify a deadline for finding out the truth."

Are you kidding? The affairs of Jiangning Prefecture are not important at all.

The matter of Jiangning Prefecture will be settled only when the results come out from the capital.

However, he could also see from this incident that Xu Qing's influence in Jiangning Prefecture was extremely terrifying.

These gentry had no doubt that Xu Qing would be able to capture them effortlessly once he received the order.

This shows that Xu Qing's understanding of the foundation power in Jiangning Prefecture is much deeper than what he knows in the capital.

Rather than waiting for the results from the capital, he was now giving Xu Qing some buffer time so that he could come up with a result that he could report back to.

The arrival of others represents the implementation of the imperial edict.

This is enough.

If you get involved again, you'll be asking for trouble.

"Ah, Xiao Wu's hospitality was so good, it would be inappropriate not to return the favor." After Lord Liang realized Xu Qing's influence in Jiangning Prefecture, he decided to continue this favor.

He took out the letter from Inspector Wu from his bosom, gave it to one of his trusted confidants, and ordered him to deliver it to Yingtian Prefecture and give it to Xu Qing in person.

He was just forwarding a letter for someone else, nothing else.

After Lord Liang gave his instructions, he felt relieved after his confidants left.

Then he called Nong Ying and Nong Yue to come and hum a little tune.

"Look ahead, it's pitch black. I'll rush over and kill him cleanly..."

This was a martial arts performance he watched at the welcoming banquet in Jinyang Prefecture. I heard that Prefect Wu got the inspiration from Xu Gongming, and asked opera masters to adapt the performance from the story of Gao Chong carrying a pulley in The Romance of Yue Fei.

"How wonderful, how smooth..."

Gently rub and rub... pick...

Mr. Liang quickly understood the concise and vivid use of words by the ancients.

Soon, the moon was noisy like a torrential rain, and the shadows were whispering...

Liang Ge Lao also read "Santong Qi" on weekdays. At this moment, he understood the beauty of the "Cai Nu Huangya" chapter, which says "the boy lies down, the girl bends her body..."

...

...

"The fumigation reaches all the limbs, and the color becomes radiant and beautiful.

The white hair turns black, and the teeth fall out and grow back in their old places.

An old man becomes a young man again, and an old woman becomes a young woman. "

In the Tianxiang Courtyard of Jiangning Prefecture, inside a boudoir, someone was chanting leisurely.

Then he continued speaking to a military officer with a serious expression outside the door:
"You are the heir of the Shangqing Palace in Laoshan. I wonder if you can teach me the profound principles of the Cantongqi?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the sky above Tianxiangyuan suddenly darkened and a strong wind blew.

At this moment, a golden light broke through the clouds.

"Great and Mighty Heavenly Dragon!" The person in the boudoir changed color.

(End of this chapter)