Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 226 Who is good at pretending to be sick

Unexpectedly, Lu Zhi could not help laughing when he heard this and said, "If there are too many termites, the wood will break; if there are too many gaps, the wall will collapse. Are there no rats among Confucian scholars? Isn't it natural for farmers to catch rats to protect their corn?"

"How can we treat rotten rats differently based on the color of their fur? The appointment of officials is based on the Han system. The capable ones are placed at the top, and the incompetent ones are placed at the bottom. This is the normal law of nature."

"If there are people who are blinded by greed and want to form a party to oppose, even if Xuande arrests them and puts them in prison, I will never stand up to speak for them, not to mention how can I know what will happen in the future."

Lu Zhi coughed and stroked his chest while speaking.

Today the world is in turmoil and the people are in danger. Isn't this the result of someone trying to seize benefits for himself?

When the princes from Guandong were fighting against Dong, no one dared to march westward. The leader of the alliance, Yuan Shao, instigated the princes to fight against the traitor Dong, but ended up establishing a new emperor.

Then he became the Governor of Jizhou and the General of Chariots and Cavalry, and Yuan Shu in Nanyang followed suit and also engraved his own title.

All of a sudden, all the princes in the world stopped obeying the Han Dynasty's rule and began to appoint themselves as officials. The decline of the Han Dynasty began from then on. Fortunately, Xuande worked hard to support the Han Dynasty, otherwise there would be no dignity for the Han officials.

Lu Zhi's decisive remarks stunned Zheng Xuan. After coming to his senses, he pointed at Lu Zhi and said with a smile: "Lu Zigan, you are so reasonable. I was almost deceived by you."

"Now you just need to take good care of your health. You will live at least seven or eight years, if not ten years. How can you not know what the future holds?" Zheng Xuan said with a smile, stroking his beard.

The two of them huddled together, and other Confucian scholars did not dare to approach and talk to them, leaving them enough space, otherwise their shocking words would have spread long ago.

It was for this reason that Zheng Xuan dared to ask frankly. Under normal circumstances, he would not ask such a taboo question.

Unexpectedly, after hearing this, Lu Zhi couldn't help but sigh.

If Lu Zigan were ten years younger, he could help Xuande defeat the princes and perhaps there would be a chance to see the revival of the Han Dynasty.

"Mr. Kang Cheng, Zigan is already in his twilight years and has been feeling powerless lately. I'm afraid he won't live long..."

"Zhi does not care about his descendants. In this life, he only hopes that the Han Dynasty will continue and the world will be unified again."

Lu Zhi informed Zheng Xuan of his physical condition in detail, which shocked the other party.

He quickly lowered his voice and asked, "Zi Gan, is this true?"

Zheng Xuan and Lu Zhi were from the same school and had been friends for decades, so Zheng Xuan was naturally very concerned about Lu Zhi's health. Many of his fellow students had passed away one after another, and if even his good friend Lu Zhi passed away, he was afraid that he would not be able to hold on.

Lu Zhi's eyes subconsciously fell on Zheng Xuan's flustered face, so he nodded, coughed dryly and said: "Kang Cheng, I invited you to Pingyuan County, and I also wanted to entrust my son to you."

"I have been suppressing the rebellions for the Han Dynasty over the years, and my body has been injured more than 20 times. Every cloudy day, the pain is unbearable. The reason I can still hold on is that I want to wait for the Liu family to carry on the legacy of Emperor Guangwu and attract scholars and heroes from all over the world to come..."

Before he finished speaking, Zheng Xuan hurriedly supported him and comforted him, "I already know what's on your mind, Zigan. You just need to take good care of yourself. Leave the rest of the affairs of the Beihai Confucian scholars to me."

Zheng Xuan thought of Lu Zhi's frail face lying in bed for nearly two months, and when he heard that Liu Bei had returned to Qingzhou, he reluctantly mustered up the energy to come and greet him.

He was really afraid that his good friend would die with regrets.

Then he stroked Lu Zhi's arm and said, "Zi Gan, to be honest with you, in my opinion, ending the war as soon as possible will benefit everyone in the world."

"Kang Cheng really didn't lie to me?" "A gentleman always keeps his word."

"Okay, the affairs of the Confucian scholars in the world will be entrusted to Lord Kang Cheng."

Lu Zhi bowed and saluted.

After such a long time of negotiation, Zheng Kangcheng finally agreed. This was his final assist in helping Xuande to conquer the Yuan family.

Even if I die, I will have no worries.

At this moment, a knight came riding in to report that the envoy would lead the cavalry to reach Pingyuan within half an hour. Xun Yu, leading the officials of Pingyuan County, and his wife Yin Jun and eldest son Liu Yong, all looked delighted when they heard the news.

Xun Yu asked his subordinates to check the drums, zithers and other musical instruments again, and walked straight to Lu Zhi and Zheng Xuan, bowed and said, "Lord Lu, Lord Zheng, I learned that you have come to greet me despite your advanced age, so I left behind my weapons and baggage and led the cavalry to march back to the plain with light equipment. It will take no more than half an hour to reach the suburbs."

"Rather than waiting here, Lord Lu and Lord Zheng should go into the tent and rest for a while. When the envoy is about to arrive, Yu will send someone to inform him. What do you think?"

Xun Yu bowed with both hands and said respectfully and politely.

To him, both of them were great scholars in the world and neither of them should be neglected lightly. Moreover, Lu Zhi was the envoy's teacher and his seniority was very high in the Qingzhou plain.

Therefore, Duke Lu and Duke Zheng insisted on coming to welcome the envoy, and no matter how politely they persuaded him, as long as the other party did not listen, he had no way to refuse.

I just hope that the two of them are aware of the situation and know that they are old and not as healthy as they were when they were young, so they can quickly go into the plain tent and rest for a while.

But please don’t let anyone faint in the suburbs, otherwise Xun Yu would be criticized by all the Confucian scholars in the world.

"Wen Ruo, it's okay for me to stand here for a while. If you can hold on, so can I."

Lu Zhi waved his hand nonchalantly, not showing any sign of trying to hold on.

Before Xun Yu could speak, Zheng Xuan's eyes suddenly widened and he said in astonishment: "Zi Gan, you..."

I reacted instantly and almost cursed out loud, "Lu Zigan is such a coward!"
He relied on their years of friendship to deceive him, causing him to become concerned and confused. He never expected that Lu Zhi would deceive him with his physical condition.

I had heard that Lu Zhi had just recovered from a long illness, and I really thought that Lu Zigan was just holding on because he couldn't let go of his wish to support the Han Dynasty. I didn't expect that he had been lying in bed pretending to be sick for the past two months.

Thinking of this, Zheng Xuan could not help but get angry and said, "Lu Zigan, you are such a good friend of mine. I never thought that you would deceive me like this. Do you really regard me as your best friend?"

Lu Zhi bowed repeatedly and apologized, "It is because I regard you as my good friend that I want to entrust you with important matters. I have studied military affairs for a long time, so it is inevitable that I have been tainted with the habits of deceit. I hope you will not be offended if I have no choice."

As he said this, he lifted up his robe and prepared to kneel down and kowtow to apologize, but Zheng Xuan grabbed him and looked at him for a long time.

He shook his head and sighed, "Lu Zigan, you have calculated that I will definitely agree to you. A gentleman can really be deceived by his own methods..."

Zheng Xuan laughed out of anger, pointed at Lu Zhi and said, "I shouldn't have gotten to know you back then, and I'm still being bullied by you today. How miserable I am."

Seeing the steps, Lu Zhi went down and held his arm, then said with a smile: "Kang Cheng, how can we be so distant after years of friendship? That would be a loss of affection. Xuande is my disciple, so he is also your disciple. How can I not help him?"

(End of this chapter)