荔枝影院

Edited by: Michyrr

“You! Outrageous!”

“Teacher, the Confucian school’s teachings were always meant to create happiness for the people of the world. Right is right and wrong is wrong. The true foundation of these teachings is what can be meaningful to the people of the world. The theories of the King of Foreign Lands are for the sake of the country. Teacher, peace is naturally not bad, but just like the King of Foreign Lands said, peace is won through effort and safeguarded through strength, not through compromise and withdrawal. Teacher, what if Ü-Tsang, the Eastern and Western Turks, Goguryeo, Mengshe Zhao... these countries really are trying to weaken the Great Tang and only feigning peace and disarmament, waiting for the right moment to immediately attack the Great Tang? If that really is the case, Teacher, have you thought about what might happen?”

“Absurd! If everything is as you think, what hope is there left in this world? Peace should be obtained through teaching, through reforming and civilizing the foreigners. Let them understand that peace and prosperity can be obtained through their own hands, not through war. Are not your current views only encouraging the aggressive nature of the foreigners? If we truly follow this theory, what peace will there be to speak of? To think that a student of mine is actually arguing for such a crooked theory! How disgraceful! I hereby announce that you are now expelled from the school, never again to be a disciple of the Confucian school!”

With these final and deafening words, the entire school fell silent. After a long while, someone finally spoke.

“Many thanks, Teacher!”

A figure emerged from the school, its back relaxed and carefree. Father and son, older and younger brother, neighbor and neighbor, teacher and student... such conflicts were taking place in every part of the capital and all across the realm.

From the publishing of ‘Might Makes Right’ all the way to the devouring of dog by wolf on the stage, only now did Wang Chong finally complete his plan. And only now did concepts like ‘the law of the jungle’ and ‘the strong eat the weak’ truly penetrate into the minds of the people; only now did the people accept them and not simply treat them as words on a page.

This was like a storm that was sweeping over the entire empire with incredible speed. Those swelling cries demanding peace and protesting war instantly became much smaller, and one could no longer see crowds marching on the streets. In contrast, the restaurants, tea houses, inns... everyone had gathered in these places to discuss and debate the new ideas proposed in ‘Might Makes Right’.

The resultant clash of ideals, each person having their own opinions and stubbornly clinging to them, only fueled the chaos and turmoil.

Like the spring wind, Wang Chong’s book was awakening countless people of the empire from a long slumber and causing them to deeply contemplate their understanding of the world.

For the countries around the Great Tang observing all this, this was a terrible development. All these empires felt a sense of great concern over the great debate taking place.

“I underestimated him!”

On the Tibetan Plateau, outside the royal capital, Dalon Trinling closed his eyes and raised his head, allowing the winds to batter against him and make his robe flutter and snap. At this moment, Dalon Trinling’s mind was awash with countless thoughts.

The Confucian school had originally held the upper hand in this conflict. Using the general trend of the world and the exhaustion and longing for peace of the people, it had been able to firmly suppress its foe. If this had been allowed to continue, the Great Tang’s decline would have been in the foreseeable future.

Not even Dalon Trinling would have been able to think of a way to reverse this sort of trend.

This was a battle of one person against the entire world, one heart against the minds of millions. From the very beginning, there had been no chance of victory, but Wang Chong had actually managed to win, or at the very least, he had showed the ability to change it all. He had started with a book and then used a wolf and dog as a metaphor for the political situation. At the cost of only the lives of a dog and wolf, Wang Chong had forcefully reversed the trend for peace. Even Dalon Trinling had to sigh in admiration at this feat.

“It was for good reason that this person has been called a major threat to our Ü-Tsang,” Dalon Trinling said to himself. Just through this strategy alone, the King of Foreign Lands had placed himself amongst the finest strategists of the world.

The Yarlung Royal Lineage’s Great General, Namri Songtian, suddenly spoke, his eyes tinged with deep concern. “Imperial Minister, what do we do now? From the current situation, we won’t be able to alter the state of the Great Tang. Once the Great Tang’s militarists return to power, our Ü-Tsang will be in the first wave of assault. Most importantly, we can’t afford failure.”

The Ü-Tsang Empire had lost far too many soldiers and officers over the last few wars, and no longer had many soldiers to use. The only factions with any capacity for battle were the Yarlung Royal Lineage and the army of the royal capital. This was also an important reason Ü-Tsang had chosen to compromise with the Confucian Sect.

“Relax! This war is far from reaching that stage. As they say in the Great Tang, only when the coffin is sealed can one make a conclusion. Although the Confucian Sect has suffered a wave of losses, this is a faction that has been able to persist in the Central Plains for one thousand years and possesses its own incredible traits. I am confident that the Confucian Sect has other moves to make. In addition...”

Dalon Trinling suddenly opened his eyes, his right hand extended out of his sleeve to reveal a letter.

“That old friend of mine in the Central Plains who I became acquainted with long ago should be about to make his move. Send off this letter. Once he receives it, he should know what to do.”

Namri Songtian couldn’t help but be taken aback by this letter. Just like all the other Great Ministers throughout the generations of Ü-Tsang, whether they were of the Four Royal Lineages or the Imperial Minister, they would almost always spend some time traveling in the Central Plains before ascending to the post. But since they had not made their name at the time, very few people paid them any attention.

“Yes, your subordinate will do so.”

Namri Songtian quickly took the letter and left.

......

“Pass on my order. Have all three armies ready for deployment.”

On the distant Mount Sanmi of the Western Turks, the reaction was much simpler. The moment this shift began to occur in the Great Tang, Wunu Shibi instinctively felt threatened and ordered his armies to be on their guard.

“Have our spies in the capital sent any new reports?”

On Mount Sanmi, Wunu Shibi had both hands placed on his sword as he stood straight like a spear. In front of him was a Western Turkic spy who had gotten down on one knee.

“Milord, almost all of our spies have converged on the capital, all of them observing this shift. If there is any new information, they will immediately report it to Milord,” the spy chief respectfully said, after which he quickly took his leave.

The skies of the Western Turkic Khaganate, the Goguryeo Empire, and Mengshe Zhao were filled with the sounds of flapping wings as numerous birds flew toward the capital of the Great Tang, more frequently and in greater numbers than ever before.

......

While all the foreign countries were readying their armies, the Anxi Protectorate headquarters was immersed in an entirely different mood.

“Good!”

Gao Xianzhi slowly put down the letter in his hand, his eyes twinkling as he felt a great burden lifted off his mind.

“Wang Chong, good job! I can finally breathe easy!

“Changqing, have the spies we sent to the foreign countries reported back?”

Gao Xianzhi turned to Feng Changqing.

Feng Changqing smiled and said, “Heh, the King of Foreign Lands is dragging along the countries by the nose. They probably can’t even escape worrying about this matter in their dreams. From the reports of our spies, the matter in the capital has made them restless and uneasy.”

Feng Changqing felt sincere admiration for Wang Chong. He and Gao Xianzhi were known as the Twin Walls of Empire because one was skilled in civil duties while the other was skilled in martial duties, the two of them perfectly complementing each other. But not even the two of them could create such schemes and strategies as Wang Chong.

This was no longer something as simple as creating a strategy or planning a logistics train. He had read the copy of ‘Might Makes Right’ sent over from the capital multiple times, savoring every sentence.

Feng Changqing had always believed himself to be incredibly talented, or else he would have never recommended himself to Gao Xianzhi when he was just a lowly soldier. But now that Wang Chong had even written such a book, Feng Changqing could only sigh at his inferiority to Wang Chong.

“Pass on my order! Keep a close watch on the surrounding countries! Be ready to move out at the slightest sign of activity!”

“Yes!”

An Anxi Protectorate army general immediately left with this order.

A single book and the events around it could cause the situation of the entire world to change. Only Wang Chong could be capable of this!

......

As all this was going on, every piece of information was being collected in the Secretariat Advisor Residence. Similarly, all the pressure had gathered on this place as well.

“Young Master, what do we do? The entire realm is chattering about the book written by the King of Foreign Lands. There are even students arguing with teachers in the Confucian schools. The actions of the King of Foreign Lands have already begun to shake the foundation of the Confucian school. Since the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, when Confucianism was revered above all the other one hundred schools of thought, this sort of thing has never happened. If we don’t stop this now, and allow this matter to continue, the thousand-year fame of the Confucian school will be finished!”

Elder Song, Bamboo Mirror, Sword Ghost, the white-clothed young woman... many members of the Confucian Sect had gathered in the Secretariat Advisor Residence, all of them tense.

The Confucian Sect had been closely watching the recent developments, and it had to admit that Wang Chong had fooled every member of the Confucian Sect with his ‘wolf and dog’ incident. Not only had Wang Chong proved his theories to the masses, he had rendered the Confucian Sect completely incapable of countering.

At the beginning, all of them had believed that victory was theirs, because the wolf and dog coexisting in the cage proved that the Confucian school’s ‘Benevolence and Righteousness’ was correct. Moreover, the Confucian school had sent people to shout that Wang Chong’s theories were nonsense. Li Junxian had even sent back the beast tamers he had requested.

But the final result...

It had made all the members of the Confucian Sect finally understand how formidable the Great Tang’s King of Foreign Lands was.

But most worrying of all was the current trend! If it were not stopped now, all the efforts of the Confucian Sect would have been made in vain.