Spoiler History: Starting from the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 689: Magnanimity
"Boss, we have arrived at Yingtian Prefecture."

Hearing what Fu Shou said, Xu Da lifted the tarpaulin on the carriage window.

The red building reflects the green water, the weeping willows are on either side of the flying eaves, the gorgeous carriages are like clouds, and the flutes are playing, it is a magnificent sight.

The tarpaulin was put down again, and his sigh came out from it:
"Fushou, tell me, why do I feel that Yingtian Prefecture is so different every time I come back?"

Fu Shou drove the carriage carefully:
"The boss always returns to the capital at the end of the year and goes north at the beginning of the year. It takes a year to fight against the barbarians. The years in Yingtian Prefecture are very different."

That is true, but Xu Da was just sighing casually. It is not so much that Yingtian Prefecture is very different, but rather that his mentality is different.

In the past few years, whenever he returned to Beijing, Hu Weiyong's servants would wait for him everywhere. This year, without Hu Weiyong, he thought he could have some peace and quiet, but a letter from His Majesty made him worried again.

The letter was brief, but the excitement in it was almost overflowing, and it rarely urged him to return south as soon as possible.

I can't remember the last time Your Majesty was so excited, and Xu Da's explanation is very simple:
Something big happened that I didn't know about.

The bicycle entered the city like a drop of water into the sea and soon disappeared. Fortunately, Fushou was no longer surprised by his owner's low-key behavior.

Without any ceremony that could be called grand, the General Zhenglu's carriage simply passed through the Hongwu Gate and headed straight into the imperial city.

After returning to the capital, he first entered the imperial city to return the seal and ribbon, then entered the palace to pay homage to the emperor, and was then given a banquet and rest. This was a standard procedure that had been repeated many times, and Xu Da was very familiar with it.

There is nothing much to say about returning the seal and ribbon. The only slight difference is the audience with the emperor.

After all, His Majesty's mood might not be the same every time he returned. Sometimes they would have a meal together, sometimes he would talk to him about the wind and snow in the north, and sometimes he would play two games of chess with him to relieve boredom when he encountered a difficult problem. It was not always the same.

But looking at the book titled "The Story of Liangshan" that His Majesty stuffed into his hands, Xu Da still expressed his extreme incomprehension.

He was no stranger to storybooks, and it was fine for him to read them in his spare time, but it was somewhat inappropriate to put them here.

After all, vernacular novels are also called novels. What is a novel? A single word is collected, the opinion of a madman.

But since it was stuffed into his hands, it was obvious that His Majesty wanted to talk about something based on the book this time, so Xu Da simply opened it and took a look.

The opening scenes of the Heavenly Master praying for blessings and the demons mistakenly leaving were not new to Xu Da. Or perhaps it could be said that starting with stories about gods, ghosts and monsters was the norm in vernacular novels and was not considered to be anything new.

But with the appearance of Shi Jin, the Nine-Striped Dragon, Xu Da also remembered the time when he was a farmer's son and practiced martial arts hard in the hope of achieving great things.

But after turning the page, seeing the three leaders of the powerful group of five to seven hundred followers appear one after another, Xu Da's slightly nostalgic mood suddenly disappeared without a trace:
"Divine Military Strategist Zhu Wu... Leaping Tiger Chen Da... White Snake Yang Chun."

"It's fine to be a strong man, but why don't you find a better title for me, Your Majesty?"

Tomorrow the emperor glanced at it calmly:
"Brother, do you think we can write this?"

Seeing that his brother looked restrained, Zhu Yuanzhang did not keep him in suspense and started talking about the Tianshou Festival.

The queen who was recuperating from illness, the strange screen, the palace maid's message, the emperor's movement, the light curtain explaining the history, the secret of heaven being revealed, until finally Luo Guanzhong and Liu Sanwu were found to verify the authenticity.

Xu Da listened attentively, and finally exclaimed:

"What your majesty has experienced is even more bizarre than this story."

There was no hint of doubt in his words. After all, he had just made it clear that the reason he was urged to return to Beijing early was to catch up with the three-month deadline mentioned on the screen, which was exactly three days later.

Ming Tianzi nodded in agreement. In fact, he went to find his sister to confirm it the next day when he got up. He almost thought that he had just had a hysterical dream the day before.

"This Liangshan Biography was found by the Yiluansi at Luo Guanzhong's residence. According to him, it was written by his teacher Shi Naian." Speaking of this book, Zhu Yuanzhang's face was a little tangled and a little sneered:
"Shi Naian is quite interesting. Zhang Shicheng, who we defected to, couldn't defeat us, so he simply wrote us three brothers into his storybook and didn't even want to give us a better title. He was very stingy."

"It's a pity that his literary talent is okay, but he has no military strategy at all. No wonder we didn't know his name before."

Xu Da didn't care too much. Although Zhang Shicheng left some impression on him, compared with the remnant Yuan Dynasty that he was currently worried about how to defeat, it was not worth mentioning.

And just by casually flipping through the story again, Xu Da understood what His Majesty meant by lamenting that there was no military strategy at all.

Just like Shi Jin who has already appeared, he left Weizhou and went to Yanzhou to find Wang Jin, a distance of only about seven or eight hundred miles, but in the end he was able to go straight to Daming Prefecture in Hebei, two thousand miles away.

Not to mention that he spent all his money on robbery in Daming Prefecture, the final location he chose, Taohua Mountain, was nearly a thousand miles away in Qingzhou, Shandong.

It was also strange that Monk Lu passed by here on his way to Xiangguo Temple from Mount Wutai. Mount Wutai is in Shanxi and Xiangguo Temple is in Henan, just a few hundred miles to the south. How could he turn to Qingzhou, Shandong, thousands of miles away and run into Shi Jin?

According to what Your Majesty said, I flipped through the later part. The Liangshan expedition against Fang La is very well written. The two sides fought fiercely step by step and the geographical location was recorded very clearly. However, Xu Da in this battle process looks so familiar. How come he is so similar to the battle in which Your Majesty destroyed Zhang Shicheng?
So the general went straight to the point and asked:

"Your Majesty, do you not punish him?"

Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand:

"The man is already dead, what crime has he committed? Can you dig up his grave and whip his corpse? This is not what a monarch should do."

In the final analysis, there are only some groundless complaints in this story. If one gets angry and starts a war over it, it seems a bit inconsistent with the Hongwu Emperor who was revered by later generations.

He, the Hongwu Emperor, must have been a wise ruler of all ages with great talent, an open mind, and outstanding achievements.

"Besides, we are worried that Luo Guanzhong is as lacking in military strategy as his former teacher, so we specially summoned him to visit the Guanmu in three days."

"Isn't he going to write the great Ming book Romance of the Three Kingdoms? In this way, if he has any doubts, he can just ask Emperor Zhaolie directly. We can be called broad-minded, right?"

Xu Da expressed his doubts. This could certainly be considered a special favor, but Liu Bei, who was about to capture Cao Cao...

Isn't the Three Kingdoms a bit too much? Is this definitely to help Luo Guanzhong?
In short, when they said goodbye for the last time, Zhu Yuanzhang repeatedly reminded them that he would host a banquet to watch the screen and curtain in three days, and they must come together.

Xu Da had no intention of refusing this. After all, since it was a magical thing, he might as well take a look at it anyway.

What Xu Da did not expect was that when he entered the palace three days later and just approached the Huagai Palace, he heard His Majesty loudly issuing orders:
"You are all good at painting. You don't need to say anything about what you see later. Just paint the amazing scene as it is. Do you understand?"

"Since you two are good at taking shorthand notes, write down every word the person in the painting says!"

"Biao'er, don't hold Xiaobai anymore. It will be disgraceful if Wu Hou sees you later! Keep Xiongying by your side and tell him about it!"

"Old Four, hold Xiao Bai tightly and don't let him cry too loudly... Can't control him? If you can't control him, go out and come back in when he stops crying! Wait, don't hit your brother! Not even if he cries!"

"Hmm? Sixth brother, stand up and turn around for me to see... Why are you still wearing armor? Don't learn from the fourth brother! Go back and change it immediately!"

Xu Da stepped onto the stairs and saw the King of Chu running away from him with a pouty face.

Looking up, he could see the mess inside the Huagai Palace, which made Xu Da a little worried:

Wouldn’t the light curtain be so frightened that it becomes invisible?

　Writing at night will be drier

　　
　
(End of this chapter)