infodatos Chapter 576 The Emperor's Reward
Chapter 576 The Emperor's Reward
Chapter 576 The Emperor's Reward
The Shu Emperor looked at Lu Zheng and laughed loudly, "At your age, to have reached the level of a Confucian scholar is already enough to earn you a place in history. Don't be modest. Speaking of which, I'm afraid there is no scholar in the world younger than you today."
The Shu Emperor stroked his beard and pondered, "To have such cultivation at such a young age, no wonder he would have Yunxiao Zhenren befriend him."
Unfortunately, this was a Confucian scholar. If it were a young Taoist priest at the fifth level of cultivation, he would have found a way to keep him in Shu.
As for Confucian scholars, although there are Confucian scholars in Shu, the court does not value them. Even if they were to be kept, the court would not invest heavily in their training. Moreover, Anguo would definitely be furious.
In the blink of an eye, the Shu Emperor pondered many things.
Although in the eyes of many, this Shu emperor neglected state affairs and preferred to enjoy himself.
But no matter what, those who can reach this position are no ordinary people; they possess their own wisdom.
Lu Zheng remained calm upon hearing this and replied, "I am simply a little faster at learning than others. There are always people better than me. There may be younger Confucian scholars in this world than I am. I have heard that Confucianism is flourishing in Qi and that it is the hometown of the Confucian sage. There should be people there who are more outstanding than me."
"The State of Qi?" The Emperor of Shu smiled and said, "If it truly existed there, it would have been announced to the world long ago. Scholars there value their reputation above all else..."
The Shu Emperor paused, then said, "I heard you did quite a few things in Chu? Did you get the tacit approval of that Chu emperor? He's no good; he must have done it on purpose. If you go to Chu again, be careful of divine retribution."
The states of Shu and Chu had been at odds for many years. The Shu emperor did not have a good opinion of the Chu emperor. Of course, this was not meant to be derogatory, but rather to kindly remind Lu Zheng.
Lu Zheng nodded slightly and said, "Thank you for the reminder, Your Majesty. I will keep it in mind."
The Shu Emperor chuckled and then looked at Qing Wan and Qing Yi.
His eyes flickered slightly as he carefully examined Qingyi.
Qingyi also looked up at the emperor of Shu, and the two stared at each other.
The Shu Emperor slowly withdrew his gaze and smiled, "You've come out to study, and you even brought a little girl named Ba as a bodyguard?"
Upon hearing this, Lu Zheng explained Qingyi's background.
Empress Furong, who had been sitting quietly listening, showed a slight change in expression. Upon hearing that Qingyi was the transformed body of a little girl who died from a drought, she couldn't help but feel pity.
Empress Furong beckoned to Qingyi and said with a friendly smile, "Come here, let me take a good look at you."
Qingyi thought for a moment, looked at the kind empress, and got up to walk over.
Empress Furong held Qingyi's small hand, felt a warmth, and carefully examined her.
Empress Furong couldn't help but say with pity, "He really is just a child, Heaven has mercy on him..."
As they spoke, Empress Furong took out a jade amulet and placed it on Qingyi's head, saying softly, "From now on, you must be well, and may you always have peace and good fortune..."
This is a blessing from the queen of a nation, not just any ordinary blessing.
After putting on the jade talisman, Qingyi clearly felt that the repulsive pressure from this world had diminished considerably.
Empress Furong waved to Qingwan again, presented her with another amulet, and said a few words to her.
Qingwan and Qingyi expressed their gratitude.
Beside him, the Shu Emperor looked at Empress Furong with a doting gaze.
After his empress finished speaking, the Shu emperor turned to Lu Zheng and said, "You have done a lot for my Great Shu. Tell me, what reward do you want?"
Since even his own empress had given gifts to the two girls, he, as the emperor, naturally couldn't be stingy with them.
Upon hearing this, Lu Zheng knew that if he asked for nothing, he would be offending the emperor of Shu. So he said, "I enjoy reading and have recently been studying various schools of thought. If possible, Your Majesty could send me some less common books."
"Oh?"
The Shu Emperor raised his eyebrows slightly. He was unusually pleased and offered a reward, but Lu Zheng only wanted to read?
The Shu Emperor smiled and said, "You are indeed quick-witted and eager to learn! My palace has the Wenhai Pavilion, which contains more than a million volumes of books. If you want to read, go there and choose for yourself! I will allow you to take away ten printed copies and two for your collection."
Wenhai Pavilion was the royal library, the emperor's treasured bookstore.
Normally, if the emperor's sons wanted to read some of the classics, they had to apply first, and they weren't even guaranteed to be qualified.
Allowing Lu Zheng to freely choose from the books is a very generous reward.
Ten printed copies of classic texts and two rare original copies—that's actually quite a lot.
Because the Wenhai Pavilion contains a wide variety of books, apart from the absence of original sacred texts, there are many works personally written by great Confucian scholars and cultivation methods of powerful cultivators.
It even contains several Taoist classics meticulously copied by the Celestial Master of Qingyang Palace.
If those books were left out in the open, I wonder how many people in the Daoist sects would go crazy for them.
For Lu Zheng to take two of his treasured books with him is something many princes and princesses wouldn't dare to dream of.
Upon hearing this, Lu Zheng bowed and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"
The Shu Emperor then instructed the palace servants beside him to fetch Wang Qianyang and take Lu Zheng to the Wenhai Pavilion to select books.
Empress Furong kept Qingwan and Qingyi by her side, hoping to chat with them and relieve their boredom.
Knowing that Empress Furong was in a rare mood, the Shu Emperor did not disturb her.
He exchanged a glance with Yun Xiao, and the two of them got up and took a walk in the spacious imperial garden.
With no palace servants attending to him, the Shu Emperor turned to Yun Xiao beside him and said, "Master, you must know that a classic of Confucianism has recently been published, since you traveled the world in your avatar before?"
Yun Xiao asked, "Which collection of poems is Your Majesty referring to?"
The Shu Emperor nodded slightly and said quietly, "It is indeed that book. I wonder which Confucian scholar was so capable that he compiled those poems into a classic, causing a sensation throughout the land. Even many Confucian factions are unwilling to acknowledge that classic. Tsk tsk tsk..."
A collection of poems, mostly forbidden, still gained the approval of Heaven, Earth, Confucianism, and Taoism, becoming a sacred classic.
If you didn't know better, you'd think some Confucian school was rebelling and challenging the imperial authority of the entire world.
Previously, the Shu emperor had sent people to deduce the origin of that classic, but they gained nothing. Instead, the people who made the deductions suffered a backlash from the Confucian and Taoist forces.
After that, the Shu emperor didn't care much about who compiled this classic, knowing that the matter was difficult to verify.
What caught his attention was that Confucianism had produced such a classic work, even though its impact wasn't good, it was still significant!
The Shu Emperor, with his hands behind his back, said leisurely, "I've been thinking that our Taoist school hasn't produced a decent classic in a long time..."
The Shu emperor also entered the Taoist sect, considering himself a Taoist successor, and even gave himself a Taoist name, but no one would call him by his Taoist name.
Upon hearing this, Yun Xiao's eyes flickered slightly. "What does Your Majesty mean?"
The Shu Emperor smiled and said, "What I mean is, let's also create a classic."
(End of this chapter)