Heirs of the Seven Swords of the Qin Dynasty

Chapter 1977 The Seven Constellations of the Azure Dragon (Twenty-four)

The Xiang family is different. What they pursue is profit. What matters is the result, that is, the winner is the king and the loser is the bandit!

Gai Nie was obviously not very optimistic about the outcome of the Xiang family.

He could only respond to Xiao Ling in a literary way that didn't sound too bad.

Xiao Ling was stunned for a moment after hearing this, then smiled and replied, "I hope they can get the future they want."

He didn't quite understand what Gai Nie said, but he could guess that the situation between the two of them might not be smooth sailing, so he gave them a blessing.

Then he talked about his own affairs, "I was called away by Sect Leader Xiaomeng before, and then I had nothing to do. I originally wanted to meet Tianming and the others, but unfortunately I was delayed and could not go."

Xiao Ling said it very simply, but in fact, what he experienced during that time... was not that complicated.

After the Battle of Daze Mountain, he wanted to go to Sanghai to find Tianming and others, both to meet his friends and for some of his own personal purposes.

But after much hesitation, I decided to wait until this year's Heaven and Man Sword Contest is over before going.

This delay wasted a lot of time, and Ying Zheng's eastern tour convoy rushed to Sanghai.

Considering that Ying Zheng's arrival might affect his personal purposes, he hesitated for a while and finally decided to set off.

As a result, before the people arrived in Sanghai, the Mohist Qinglong Plan was successfully implemented. Emperor Ying Zheng's life was hanging by a thread and he was almost assassinated. Then the entire Sanghai area became a forbidden area for people in the underworld.

Xiao Ling really didn't want to rush and cause trouble. The key point was that the situation in Sanghai was so tense. Tianming and Shao Yu were probably hiding in some corner. He might not be able to find them successfully. Even if he found them, he could only hide in a secluded corner. It was really meaningless.

As for his personal motives, there is even less hope.

He simply returned to Tianzong.

When the controversy over Ying Zheng's assassination gradually subsided, the issue of the Book Burning Order arose.

The book burning order equally affected all schools of thought, and basically no one was spared.

Ying Zheng's execution was indeed very thorough. Not only did he not spare the Legalists, he even burned the books of the Yin-Yang School.

Donghuang Taiyi had no intention of confronting Ying Zheng in this matter. He just burned it when he was told to do so, and he didn't care at all.

But he doesn't care, but other schools of thought may care.

Even the Legalists, who always emphasized unlimited loyalty to the monarch, made quite a fuss about this.

Taoism is naturally not without any waves.

On the Tianzong side, Xiao Meng was very tough and directly told the people sent by the court to execute the book burning order to get out.

The other party definitely didn't want to, so Xiaomeng physically rolled him away.

Fearing the possible retaliation from the imperial court, Xiao Ling still did not leave Taiyi Mountain, but stayed with his fellow disciples to guard the mountain gate.

However, I don’t know whether it was Gu Xun who stepped forward or the eldest prince Fusu who stepped forward to mediate, but the matter ended in nothing.

As we all know, the Taoist sects do not have many books in their collection, and the Tianzong sect is even less so. Unlike the Confucianists, they do not have the habit of collecting books. The Taoist sects not only collect classics written by their own predecessors, but also books from other sects, even historical sites and materials, and other kinds of miscellaneous books.

The emperor probably felt that there was no need to make a big fuss about these books, so he turned a blind eye to them.

Although the Ren Sect is not as tough as the Tian Sect, Xiaoyaozi had already hidden all the books in the mountain sect headquarters.

The Renzong said you can burn it as you like, as long as you can find the book from Taiyi Mountain.

There was no follow-up either - if the book couldn't be found, there was no way to burn it.

Although Taoism is one of the most famous schools of thought among the Hundred Schools of Thought, it is the smallest in scale. It is not as big and powerful as Confucianism, Mohism, or Agriculture, so it can get away with it.

Even so, only the stability of the headquarters in Taiyi Mountain was maintained, while other places were in chaos.

After the book burning order subsided for a while, winter came.

Xiao Ling is not an ordinary person, so he does not need to fear the severe winter cold, but when Mirage goes out to sea, he loses his biggest motivation to go to Sanghai.

Moreover, once the mirage is gone and the clouds and rain have stopped, it is hard to say whether the Mohist school and the Xiang clan will continue to stay there.

There is a high probability that he will come back empty-handed if he goes.

With these two factors combined, Xiao Ling finally gave up the idea of ​​leaving the world and stayed in the sect for the time being, until Gai Nie visited today.

Hearing Xiao Ling's words, Gai Nie responded, "Tian Ming and the others have asked Mr. Xiao Yaozi of the Human Sect about you several times before, but unfortunately they were unable to obtain any useful information."

Xiao Ling smiled when she heard that, and then asked, "Are they still in Sanghai?"

Gai Nie shook his head, "They are all gone."

He gave no further details of his whereabouts.

Tianming didn't want to tell too many people about going out to sea with Mirage.

As for Shao Yu... Gai Nie was not sure where he was going. He only knew that the Xiang family went south and their destination was Kuaiji area.

That's too wide a range.

Xiao Ling nodded somewhat disappointedly, "I hope I can meet them again someday."

"There will be a chance." Gai Nie replied in a deep voice.

"Excuse me, but why did Mr. Gai go to see Uncle-Master Bei Mingzi?" Xiao Ling asked, changing the subject.

"Because of Tianming's matter." To Xiao Ling, Gai Nie's answer was more direct.

Xiao Ling nodded in understanding.

He knew that Tianming had health problems, and he also knew that Gai Nie intended to seek help from Tianzong.

After that, he didn't ask any more questions. He quickened his pace and led Gai Nie into the valley where Bei Mingzi lived in seclusion and practiced meditation.

At the entrance of the valley, Xiao Ling pointed into the valley and said, "Master Uncle Bei Ming is in the valley. Mr. Gai, please go and see him yourself."

"Thank you." After expressing his gratitude briefly, Gai Nie walked into the valley.

In the valley with newly sprouted green grass, a simple wooden house stands alone.

There was a table outside the house with couches on both sides.

Bei Mingzi was kneeling on the couch waiting for Gai Nie.

Compared to the first time Gu Xun met him, Bei Mingzi looked much older.

When they met that year, Bei Mingzi was already an octogenarian.

Now more than ten years have passed, and Bei Mingzi has become a centenarian.

In those days, he looked as if he was the same age as his junior Chisongzi. Although he was old, he was energetic and did not look old at all.

But at this moment, he looked obviously decadent and old, without any demeanor of a Taoist master.

Looking at Bei Mingzi who seemed to be just an ordinary old man, Gai Nie was not surprised.

An old man over a hundred years old can still move freely, which is enough to make people sigh that he is indeed a Taoist master and has the secret of health preservation.

After all, they are only practicing martial arts, not cultivating immortals, so not only will they not have the effect of prolonging their lives, but if they have fought with others too many times in their early years and injured their bodies, their lifespan will most likely be shorter than that of ordinary people.

"I am Guiguzi Gai Nie, a junior, and I am here to greet senior Bei Mingzi." Gai Nie stepped forward and bowed his hand first.

Bei Mingzi waved his hands gently, the movement was very slight, and it seemed that he didn't have much strength:
"Please sit down." Gai Nie obediently knelt down opposite Bei Mingzi.

"How is Guiguzi now?" Bei Mingzi did not ask Gai Nie why he was looking for him, but asked about his master Guiguzi first.

"Master..." Gai Nie really couldn't answer this question, "I haven't seen him for many years."

"Heh!" Bei Mingzi lowered his eyebrows, his eyes half open and half closed, and chuckled, "It fits his personality very well."

"It's better to hide. Times have changed after all."

"The world is in turmoil, the people are in misery, among all the schools of thought, only I am the master... The era symbolized by this sentence has passed!"

Looking back over the five hundred years of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, various schools of thought continued to come and go.

If we were to say which school was the most active and brilliant, it would be none other than the school of diplomacy.

For the various vassal states that were constantly engaged in wars, how to govern their own country was often secondary. What was more important was how to handle relations with neighboring countries.

It is a science to choose which ones to cooperate with as allies and which ones to devour and grow stronger as enemies.

And the people who are best at handling this matter are the strategists.

The so-called uniting the weak to attack the strong, and using the strong to attack the weak - also known as the strategy of forming alliances and making alliances - is exactly the diplomatic and military policy that the strategists most admire and are best at.

It is precisely because the diplomats have the ability to create waves out of nothing that they are given the reputation of "the world is in turmoil, the people are in misery, among all the schools of thought, I am the only diplomat."

It sounds scary, but in essence it is just a troublemaker.

It is true that many countries have been troubled by the troublemakers of diplomacy and are really afraid of them.

However, as the game of big fish eating small fish among the major vassal states came to an end, the world gradually tended to be unified, and the scope for strategists to operate became narrower and narrower.

Although there are different political factions and power groups under the same regime, and they fight openly and secretly for power and profit, and it seems that there is no difference between them and the vassal states, there are actually fundamental differences.

The biggest difference is that there is no emperor who has the final say over the vassal states.

The vassal states could turn against each other at will, or form an alliance at will, and everything was based on the will of the king or the need for interests.

But the political forces and groups within the empire are not so free.

Without the emperor's permission or acquiescence, you would be seeking death if you directly attacked your political enemies.

The same is true in reverse. Anyone who dares to form a clique for personal gain is seeking death.

Not to mention the emperor with centralized power, even when the Zhou royal family had not lost power, the vassal states could not act so recklessly.

Without this autonomy, it would be difficult for a strategist to create trouble out of nothing.

That is why Bei Mingzi said that the era of diplomats is over.

Of course, it is normal for times to change and things to change. As the world changes, strategists should also change accordingly and still find their own way out.

However, it is difficult to say how long this process will take.

During the five hundred years of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, with frequent wars among countries, it took more than a hundred years for the emergence of the school of diplomacy.

How long will it take for the strategists to change their thinking and adapt to the new era?

No one can say for sure, but it certainly cannot be accomplished in a few years or even a dozen years.

As the person involved, Gai Nie was naturally well aware of the current situation of the Zongheng family, but he didn't care. When he heard Bei Mingzi's words, he didn't make any response.

Bei Mingzi didn't care and continued, "Were you there on the day when Xiao Shengxian Manor was destroyed?"

Gai Nie shook his head. "Confucian affairs are somewhat sensitive. Outsiders are not allowed to get involved. Xiaoshengxian Manor does not want us to get involved either."

"At the same time, we didn't expect the Empire to be so ruthless!"

The entire Xiaoshengxianzhuang was directly destroyed. The empire's actions were beyond everyone's expectations. Even the Mohist School, who were prevented from helping at the time, did not expect the empire to be so cruel.

They were afraid that getting involved would intensify the conflict and provoke the Empire to react more severely. As a result, the Empire went all the way to the end, leaving no possibility of further progress.

"Confucianism... is also outdated in a sense." Bei Mingzi continued softly, "It's just a pity for Xun Kuang."

Bei Mingzi's words were not intended to deliberately belittle Confucianism.

It is inevitable that they will become outdated, even more thoroughly than the strategists.

The undisputed core of Confucianism is the great sage Confucius.

However, what Confucius pursued throughout his life was to restore the Zhou rituals.

Confucius, who was born in the late Spring and Autumn Period, was faced with the ever-expanding and increasingly intense fighting among the princes.

The people were living in misery and the whole country was filled with war.

This kind of world is undoubtedly wrong. Confucius may not have been able to find a new direction for social development in this ever-changing era, but he at least chose the right direction - restoring the Zhou rituals.

At that time, Zhou Li might have been a little backward and outdated, but it ultimately represented a stable order.

And order is definitely better than no order.

But it is undoubtedly completely inappropriate now.

Ying Zheng ushered in a new era. Although this era seemed uncertain and even somewhat shaky, it was probably more suitable for the current world than the Zhou rituals.

After all, the world today is very different from when the Zhou Dynasty was established.

But then Bei Mingzi sighed again, "It's a pity for Xun Kuang."

Gai Nie didn't say anything, but nodded unconsciously, agreeing with this.

Xunzi is generally regarded as the last great Confucian scholar.

In fact, not only that, he is also the last glory of the entire Hundred Schools of Thought. He is one of the few people in this era who is qualified to be called the predecessor of the Hundred Schools of Thought - apart from him, only his student Han Fei has this qualification.

Bei Mingzi is older than Xunzi in terms of seniority, but he does not have the qualification - as a master of Tianzong, the outside world basically only knows him by his name, and a name alone is not enough to call him a virtuous person.

This is also one of the reasons why the destruction of Xiaoshengxianzhuang and the death of Xunzi caused a collective shock to all schools of thought - in their view, this seemed to subtly mark the end of all schools of thought.

After Bei Mingzi finished speaking, he laughed, his old body trembled slightly, and then he said:

"I am really old now, and I always like to talk nonsense."

"Let's get down to business. You're looking for me... because of a child, right?"

Gai Nie's calm eyes were disturbed, "Master Bei Ming knows about Tian Ming?"

"I know a little bit, but not much."

"Then Master..."

Bei Mingzi interrupted Gai Nie, "You didn't bring anyone with you?"

Gai Nie was silent for a moment and then replied, "He went out to sea with Mirage... Tianming's friends learned from the national teacher Gu Xun that the only way to solve his physical problems seems to be in Mirage. In desperation, we can only let the Yin-Yang family take him away."

Bei Mingzi nodded slightly, "In this matter, Gu Xun is the most trustworthy and the only person you can trust."

"Except for him, no one can give you a clear answer—including me and Donghuang Taiyi."

"Of course, I can't guarantee that what Gu Xun said is correct."