Crossing the main entrance of the academy, a vast square is presented in front of you, and some stone tables are scattered on the square. Like a chess piece on a chessboard, square and neat.

Just like Confucianism, he is calm and meticulous.

Behind the chessboard square, the scattered houses are hidden in the mountains and forests, and the sound of reading can be heard from time to time.

Like the gurgling water in the mountains, its sound is crisp and pleasant.

The academy professor who greeted Ning Baifeng and the others, named Roben, had a straight face, but his tone was very calm, and he did not have the seriousness brought by his face.

At this moment, Ning Baifeng and the others followed Luo himself and walked through the square called Qiping Lecture Hall. According to Robben, this is the place where the students and gentlemen of the college read every morning.

Behind the Qiping Lecture Hall, although the main hall used by the academy to welcome guests is not tall and majestic, and there are no carved beams and paintings, the words on the pillars, doors and windows are awe-inspiring. When a few people were introduced into the side hall of the main hall, Robben confessed, saying that the mountain lord was teaching people, and he had already sent a message to the mountain lord, and a few people needed to wait here for a while.

The old Taoist priest nodded, indicating that he understood their difficulties.

After Robben asked the scholar to serve refreshments, he bluntly said that he still had schoolwork with him and could not accompany him for a long time, so he said goodbye and left.

When Robben left, Wonjin, who had an empty stomach, sat down in a chair, grabbed the pastry in one hand and poured the teacup into his mouth with the other. The afternoon's journey made him tired and thirsty, especially with a long knife and a small tree on his back.

As the saying goes, there is no light burden on a long journey, and carrying these on your back is indeed tiring enough to walk all the way.

Ning Baifeng finished drinking tea and looked at the calligraphy and paintings hanging on the wall in the side hall, although he was literate, he could barely recognize the words on the wall, and he felt that they were all very well written. But if you let it tell the meaning, what is good, it will be difficult for some strong people.

After about half a pillar of incense, an old man in gray with white hair and beard stepped into the side hall.

The old Taoist priest got up and poured a cup of tea for the gray-clothed old man.

The guest pours tea for the host, which is a bit anti-guest-oriented.

The old man didn't care, and after taking a sip of tea, he said: "Yanxia Zhenjun has been promoted to the position of Yuanying, which is really gratifying. ”

The old Taoist priest put down the teacup in his hand, looked at the old man in gray, seemed to be brewing words, and then went straight to the point: "The mountain lord praises falsely, the poor Dao is here for the Xu family, Xu Lu prayed to the poor Dao to send the jade medal to the academy before he died, and I wish the academy to come forward and protect the Xu family." ”

After speaking, the old Taoist priest took out an egg-sized jade medallion from his sleeve and put it on the tea table between the two.

The mountain master of the academy looked at the jade medal, took a sip of tea with a flat expression, and then said to the old Taoist priest: "Zhenjun may not know much about the matter of the Xu family, after I explain it clearly, do you want to exchange this jade medal for the Xu family." ”

"Xu's ancestors from the coast, ups and downs so far, only three branches remain, the main vein for the former household department of Shangshu one, these years as Daning's money bag, in the Longjiang side of the continuous failure, financial shortage, is very to the court to make up a lot of holes. The other one is the former Longxiang general Xu Danmai, who fought with Daquan coach Wen Zeyang a few years ago, and won time for the evacuation of the people of Nanjun, which made a lot of contributions. Finally, Xu Lu is in the vein, Xu Lu has been talented and intelligent since he was a child, and he reads very well, just because he is not confused, he is already a great talent for governing the country, and it is only a matter of time before he is a national scholar. Judging from these, Xu's can be said to be ZTE's hope. ”

Speaking of which, the old man in gray took a sip of tea to moisten his throat.

When the old Taoist priest heard this, he interjected: "What the mountain master said, the poor Taoist has heard a little. ”

The gray-clothed old man was stunned for a moment, looked at the old Taoist, understood his thoughts and meaning after a little thought, and after sneering, said: "Don't you think that the problem of the Xu clan lies in the failure of the struggle for power and profit." ”

The old Taoist priest took a sip of tea and was noncommittal.

Seeing this, the old man smiled and said, "Since this is the case, let's talk about what Zhenjun doesn't know." ”

A few months ago, when Zhenjun set foot in the Xu Mansion in the city, he must have seen the Sun family chasing and beating the Xu family, just because one of the children of the Xu family was about to set foot in the small talent of governing the country, so he hit the idea to the secret land of Xiangze and wanted to open up the fourth episode. In fact, there is another thing in this, if the Xu family operates properly, it will not necessarily rob the other three families, but the bad thing is that the children of the Xu family have a loss of morality, and there was a conflict with the Sun family when negotiating, and they accidentally killed the grandson of the old prime minister Sun, which attracted the Sun family's endless death. ”

"If it is said that it is from this incident that the Sun family is endless, it is a little far-fetched, why should we push it forward. The Xu family, the head of the household department Xu Qingyuan, as a branch of the Xu family living in the capital for generations, has been climbing in the household department and holding the money bag for several dynasties for Daning. Since he is working in the household department, his hands can't be clean after all, and after several generations, the Xu family in the capital is full of wealth. However, with money, ambition is great, Xu Laoshangshu set his sights on the position of the prime minister early, this is a blatant suppression of the Sun family, you need to know that the Sun family has been the prime minister of the three dynasties, and has long regarded it as a forbidden body. Subsequently, it involved the matter of the private empty treasury, and the evidence was conclusive, according to the investigation, the Xu family in the capital has been empty of the treasury for three generations, and it can be imagined that its silver is huge. ”

The old mountain lord seemed to be a little tired from speaking, took a deep breath, held the tea cup, and was silent.

Since the old mountain lord said this, Ning Baifeng and Yuan Zhen sat not far away and listened, not daring to make a sound.

The old Taoist priest, who had been listening to the old man's story, couldn't help but break the silence and asked, "Then how do these have anything to do with Xu Danyi?" ”

The old mountain lord looked at the old Taoist, gently put down the teacup, and sighed: "In fact, a large part of the cause of the Xu family's calamity is due to Xu Dan's vein. Tracing to four generations ago, Xu Dan's vein is still the capital Xu family partial house, it is rumored that due to the concept of disagreement, plus not valued, this vein ancestors broke out of the door, and the pen from Rong. After several generations, he has sat in the high position of General Long Xiang. Daning had no more than three major military towns on the south bank of the Longjiang River, but there was no commander, and the three generals restrained each other and assisted each other to resist the offensive on the north bank of the Longjiang River. Xu Dan does have some talent in leading the troops, since the head of the dragon army, Daning's disadvantage has been reversed from time to time, the credit is once overshadowed, and gradually the court began to spread that Xu Dan led the three armies, completely reversed Daning's disadvantage, and even more, Xu Dan's merit was enough to canonize the king with a different surname. If it's just these, it won't let the one sitting on the dragon chair attack it, Daning lacks generals and can't do anything to destroy the foundation. But things changed in another unexpected place. ”

The old mountain lord paused, and then continued: "A few years ago, Daquan crossed the river again, and the offensive was extremely fierce, and the three major military towns had to shrink their defense lines and evacuate the people. But for some reason, the news leaked that the three major towns were hit seven inches at the same time, and the losses were heavy, but when the city was lost one after another, Xu Shan led the remnants of the army to counterattack all the way back, and finally boosted morale, and the Jedi counterattacked, defeated the main force of Daquan, and drove the Daquan Iron Cavalry back to Jiangbei. On the surface, Xu Dan's contribution is unimaginable, but half a year ago, a battalion that Long Xiang's army voluntarily abandoned during the war was forced to flee into the mountains, but it was inadvertently discovered, and the news brought by it spread like an earthquake throughout the Daning government and the opposition. Long Xiang general Xu Dan has long been with Daquan Xuan, these years of warfare, as long as it involves the Long Xiang army, basically in the acting, the purpose is only that Daquan Iron Cavalry can be plundered in the territory of Daning, Xu Shan can climb up with his military exploits. ”

The old Taoist priest endured and did not speak, until this time, he couldn't help it, and softly interrupted the old mountain master's words, "How can it be regarded as a crime if you say something that has no basis." ”

The old mountain lord nodded, "At that time, it seemed that there was no basis for words, but when the imperial court issued an order requiring Xu Shan to return to Beijing to report on his work, Xu Shan refused to return to Beijing under the pretext that Daquan was fighting and preparing to cross the river, which was enough to make people vigilant, especially when the news from the other two military towns was that everything was calm." But the last straw that crushed Xu Dan's vein was Xu Qingyuan, the head of the household department who lost in the court. After the collapse of the Xu family in the capital, when the criminal department traced the whereabouts of the stolen money, it was found that the largest head of these silver was flowing to the Long Xiang army. ”

The old Taoist priest groaned for a while, and said softly: "In this way, the Xu family has actually moved the foundation of the Daning Changsun clan, if it weren't for the nod of the Changsun Emperor sitting on the dragon chair, the Xu clan would not have been wiped out." ”

The old mountain lord nodded and said, "Yes, there are three branches of the Xu family, only the harm of being trapped in Xiangyun Mansion is the least." Lao Yu also persuaded Xu Lu, but he couldn't see it, was reluctant, and couldn't let it go. Confucianism pays attention to reasonableness, Xu Lu fell too deep in the word love, if he did it with reason, he Xu Lu would not die at all. He's actually a poor man. ”

Hearing this, Ning Baifeng somewhat understood why Xu Lu had such an attitude before entering the valley that day. The Xu family's demise is imminent, and he can't afford to lose.

The old Taoist priest sighed, stretched out his hand to pinch the jade chapter and played with it for a while, and said calmly: "It seems that the poor Dao is greedy, Xu Lu has actually figured it out before he died, he can't protect the Xu family, so what he prayed to the old Taoist is to ensure that the Xu family's incense continues, since the Xu family has no place to stand in Daning, can you keep some of the incense of Xu Lu's vein and send it to the Voryang country where the poor Dao belongs, what does the mountain lord think." ”

The old mountain lord looked at the old Taoist priest calmly, and said slowly: "The old man can't promise you immediately, you take back the jade chapter first, and wait for the old man to discuss with the eldest grandson emperor to see if he can sell the old man's face, and the true monarch will rest in this academy for two days, waiting for a reply." ”

The old Taoist priest nodded and said, "Then it will disturb the mountain master." ”

After the old mountain lord finished speaking, he seemed to be a little tired, and said to the old Taoist priest that he was not with him, and then got up and prepared to leave. When he saw Ning Baifeng and Yuan Zhen, he nodded with a smile and told the two that young people should read more books, and they might as well go to the lecture hall of the academy to listen to Mr. Teach in their spare time these days.

Ning Baifeng was literate in the village school when he was a child, and knew some Confucian disciples' disciple etiquette to his husband, so he bowed to the old mountain master according to the etiquette he had learned.

The old mountain lord was stunned for a moment, stared at Ning Baifeng up and down for a long time, and then returned the salute in the same way, and said with a smile: "The young man has a deep family history, and the old man has transgressed. ”

Ning Baifeng looked at the back of the old mountain lord leaving, full of confusion. I don't know a lot of words, and the old village is just telling them some ancient etiquette, and almost everyone in the village knows it, and only that. If it refers to iron, it is very originated, but the old mountain master obviously refers to this.

The old Taoist priest who got up to send him off also looked at Ning Baifeng with a strange expression, but he didn't say anything.

Soon after, Robben finished his evening lecture and led a few people to the guest rooms of the college to rest.