With the cannon fodder script in hand, it is easy for the king to change his fate

The world has turned upside down! The world has turned upside down!

Today, many book lovers came to the study to buy books. Besides those interested in the history of Ao Kingdom, the literati were most interested in the various works of Ao Kingdom. In particular, knowing that Ao Kingdom had a rich collection of poetry and prose, many people bought some without much thought.

When I got home and looked through it, it looked more and more familiar.

When I compared the poems I had read before, they were exactly the same.

At first, they thought it was a printing error, a confusion on the part of the imperial court, but they quickly dismissed that idea. If it was being sold in a study, it must have been carefully checked. Furthermore, many of the poems in the newly purchased collection included a postscript by the author, recording the location, the weather, their feelings at the time, and sometimes even who was nearby.

If they learned about the history of the Kingdom of Ao, they would surely recognize that many of the people mentioned held significant positions within the Kingdom of Ao.

The scholar, who was reading the poetry collection, calmed down and continued to turn the pages one by one, his expression becoming increasingly solemn and puzzled.

"It shouldn't have been the trend at the time. I have almost no thoughts on Lan Ming and Yu Chujun's poetry collections."

"As far as I know, He Shanding and Feng Qingqing's poetry collections each have their own reflections at the end. Qiao Quan's articles also have related reflections."

“The articles about their poetry collection this time are very complete, and some of the poems are even connected. You can’t see anything when you just read the poems we know in the past, but it becomes very clear when these poems are put together.”

"So everything is obvious now: that so-called great writer Zhou Wenling plagiarized the poems and articles of the Aoguo literati!"

"This……"

"Now that the Zhou family is still alive, the imperial court has made these things public..."

"So what if it's the Zhou family? Zhou Wenling clearly knew about the existence of the Ao Kingdom, yet he not only failed to preserve its information but also plagiarized it. Shouldn't the truth be revealed?"

"Such a person is a disgrace to scholars."

"I never expected that Zhou Wenling would be the person I admired the most before. Fortunately, the original author has been found. Now I have to find someone else."

"Yes, right? If His Majesty hadn't suddenly discovered the underground palace, these truths would never have been known to us."

"On another note, since Zhou Wenling was able to plagiarize these poems, does that mean he knew that Aoguo's information would be erased? Could he be one of the participants?"

A group of scholars gathered together, and their thoughts naturally began to wander.

"If Zhou Wenling hadn't known that the existence of the Kingdom of Ao would be erased, how would he have dared to plagiarize poetry?"

Throughout the capital, there was much discussion about Zhou Wenling plagiarizing the works of a writer from Aoguo. The Zhou family members were also aware of the matter, and at this moment, they were all pale-faced and at a loss in the main hall.

This was something they had never anticipated.

"How about it?"

Zhou Hanyi, the head of the Zhou family, who was sitting at the head of the table, also had a dark expression on his face. He asked the person in front of him who was flipping through the Aoguo Poetry Collection.

Zhou Huo subconsciously raised his head, his face pale and his lips white. Facing Zhou Hanyi's dark face, his voice trembled: "Grandfather, I'm afraid it's true."

"In Feng Qingqing and He Shanding's poetry collections, some poems are related and can be perfectly connected. There are also reflections after each poem, which fully record the scene at the time."

Therefore, their most admired and proudest ancestor, Zhou Wenling, turned out to be a plagiarist.

The Zhou family had enjoyed its glory for thousands of years because of Zhou Wenling, but now it too would be tarnished, even infamous, because of him. Previously, they were fearless in the face of the one sitting above them; after all, the Zhou family was renowned, and as long as they didn't make any major mistakes, even the one above wouldn't dare to do anything to them. But if she dared to do anything to them, it would incur the displeasure of all the scholars.

Even if you kill them all, you can't kill them all. As a large family with thousands of years of history, they have many ways to seek refuge.

The person above isn't stupid; he wants the Zhao Kingdom to remain stable, so he won't easily touch them.

But now they are a disgrace to the literary world. The more scholars in the world once admired the Zhou family, the more they now hate them.

Even if they have many descendants, they can't do anything outside the Zhou family's name.

It can be said that from today onwards, the Zhou family's thousands of years of business have been ruined.

By this point, the person above won't need to do anything to them; the Zhou family themselves will be in big trouble.

And those scholars, they know them best, and they'll probably join forces to denounce them next. Even if Zhou Wenling lived thousands of years ago, the Zhou family has survived to this day because of him. If something like this happens, it's unacceptable for the current Zhou family not to give an explanation.

This matter cannot be refuted, nor can it be ignored. Even if the mistake is admitted and an apology is made to the public, the Zhou family's status will never be the same as before.

What Zhou cared about was never the opinions of those scholars; what he cared about was the family's status. To them, those scholars were nothing more than tools to be used.

Without fame, they will gradually disappear into the long river of history, and it is undoubtedly a pipe dream to expect them to be passed down.

"Master, something terrible has happened! The area outside the manor is swarming with scholars demanding an explanation from the Zhou family." The gatekeeper rushed in, his face filled with anxiety.

Zhou Hanyi closed his eyes and slammed his fist on the table. He hadn't expected this situation to suddenly happen, and he wasn't prepared for it.

That woman is really ruthless. She did such a thing so quietly. No wonder he said he's been so calm lately. It turns out there was something waiting for him, Zhou.

But he really had no choice.

The Zhou family is a renowned family of Confucian scholars in the eyes of everyone. If something like this happens, they will only be nailed to the pillar of shame.

"The Zhou family is doomed now." After reading the poetry collections, Xie Nuo guessed that there would be a commotion at the Zhou family's place today. Sure enough, when he arrived by carriage, he could see the Zhou family mansion surrounded by scholars from afar.

"How do you think the Zhou family is going to resolve this? Not apologizing isn't an option, but apologizing doesn't seem to change anything either." She looked on with curiosity.

Yun Qinglan said, "The Zhou family has been able to develop for so many years, which must be extraordinary. They will eventually choose to apologize. Even if they don't get forgiveness from all scholars, some will admire them for so frankly admitting their ancestors' mistakes, which can still salvage some of their reputation."

"After all, Zhou Wenling lived several thousand years ago. The mistake was made by him, not by the current Zhou family."

"If the Zhou family were to manipulate things a little more and release some statements that the Zhou family has admitted their mistakes and can correct them, their reputation would improve."

Xie Nuo frowned: "That's really shameless."

"The Zhou family is not interested in court affairs, and they also do some charitable deeds such as distributing porridge every year. They have cultivated an excellent reputation, so it is not easy to bring them down."

“If we were to try to destroy the Zhou family, we would be losing a thousand enemies and eight hundred of our own, which is not worth it,” Yun Qinglan replied. “We can only slowly erode them, and it would be best to disintegrate them from within.”

"The fact that His Majesty was able to pull off such a move so quietly shows that this is his intention," he added.

Xie Nuo nodded in agreement; that should be it. (End of Chapter)