Tiger Guards

Chapter 315 Inside the Library
The former Hou family manor has gradually fallen into disrepair.

Many people had migrated to various counties in Pingyang, and when Zhao Ji returned, only a hundred or so people remained in the manor.

Apart from the basic guards and servants, the others were all women who accompanied Cai Zhaoji in compiling and copying books.

These women came from two sources: one was literate women rescued from the Xiongnu, who generally came from noble families; the other was hostages sent by generals and officials from Guanzhong.

As for the captured women, the best place for them was a textile factory.

All industries in Taiyuan and Hedong were developing, but the only industry that Zhao Ji did not like was the lacquer industry.

Even if it meant using slaves to mine lacquer, Zhao Ji felt it wasn't worth it.

The manor did not become lively because of Zhao Ji's arrival.

The study was filled with the smell of insect repellent powder.

Zhao Ji casually flipped through the bamboo slips: "It has only been twelve years since the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and the people are short of paper, which is really inconvenient."

Cai Zhaoji wore a low-cut ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) with a cashmere overcoat, and applied light makeup. She followed Zhao Ji with a swaying gait, and sighed, "Paper is mostly used by the government, and private estates don't value it. I wrote to Pei Wenli to inquire, and it seems that hemp paper will be produced around next summer or autumn."

Zhao Ji pushed the bamboo slips back onto the shelf and asked, "Han Rong has already started lecturing at the Imperial Academy in Anyi, with about two or three hundred scholars attending his lectures daily. Do you want to come with me to Jinyang, or stay in Anyi to preach the Cai School?"

Cai Zhaoji asked with a smile, "If we go to Jinyang, can't we promote Cai's teachings?"

"Yes, once you get to Jinyang, you will assist me in promoting the new learning."

Zhao Ji shifted his gaze from under her neck and found that Cai Zhaoji, who was not particularly beautiful, had become alluring.

He continued, “The beauty and wonder of writing should not be confined to poetry, prose, or parallel prose. During this trip to the Central Plains, many scholars from various states in the Guandong region wrote poems praising my achievements. In my opinion, their feelings were not fully expressed because they were constrained by literary styles.”

Parallel prose, also known as four-six parallel prose, is a relatively new art form that has only recently begun to develop, unlike the more established poetry and Han fu (a type of classical Chinese prose).

During this period, the two exchanged letters, and Cai Zhaoji also received several essays written by Zhao Ji, which greatly inspired her.

Parallel prose emphasizes parallelism and progression. Because it has only recently become popular, many people imitate it, focusing only on the rules of form and rhythm, neglecting the nuances of language. Some even use obscure characters to achieve the desired rhythm and parallelism.

Zhao Ji's essays do not adhere to paragraph formats, and with the aid of punctuation, the sentences are clearly broken down... Most importantly, Zhao Ji uses everyday language.

Not to mention being able to read it, even if you read it aloud to someone who can't read, they'll understand!

The development of parallel prose shares a common logic with poetry and fu (a type of classical Chinese prose): the writing style facilitates sentence breaks. However, Zhao Ji used punctuation marks to break sentences in his text.

This one move alone could cost countless people their livelihoods.

Promoting new learning involves not only punctuating and copying various commentaries on the classics, but also possibly translating them into vernacular Chinese.

The development of writing went through a period of increasing complexity. Ancient people created various complex characters, hoping that a single character could express many meanings in order to save writing space.

However, the increasing number of newly created characters has made learning and dissemination more difficult.

This trend has now been curbed; if you say "white horse," you mean "white horse," and you won't say "dragon."

Cong is a horse with bluish-white markings, Liu is a red horse with a black mane and tail, and Qi is a bluish-black horse.

Each of the common colors of a horse has a corresponding character; even the states of a horse are distinguished by the terms 骁 (xiāo), 骥 (jì), 驽 (nǔ), and 骟 (shān).

Characters created based on various states of horses all have the "horse" radical. Except for the mythical white horse, which is referred to as the dragon.

Therefore, the White Dragon Horse can only be white.

Zhao Ji found this natural development too slow and decided to give it a strong push.

I'd rather my subordinates speak plain and unrefined language than be fooled into studying different ways of writing characters every day.

As for where to go in the future, Cai Zhaoji had no other choice.

Going to Anyi would mean encountering the remaining members of the Wei clan, something she couldn't tolerate.

Only by going to Jinyang can she start a new life.

The future city of Jinyang will attract immigrants from various Qiang and Xiongnu tribes, and no one will dwell on the past.

Without hesitation, she looked at Zhao Ji and said, "If there is a place for me in Jinyang, I will gladly accept it."

“Then let’s go to Jinyang. I’ll build you a villa in Longshan. In your spare time, you can plant trees and raise cattle and sheep.”

After saying this, Zhao Ji turned around and walked up to the pavilion, with Cai Zhaoji quickly following behind.

Her maid followed behind carrying a wooden tray; she was already visibly pregnant.

She will choose to give birth to this child; it's not like she can't afford to raise it.

As long as Cai Zhaoji doesn't abandon her, she can raise the child. Children raised in this environment receive a better education than scholars from outside.

The maid followed them closely, secretly observing Zhao Ji and Cai Zhaoji. Seeing that the two often made eye contact, she quietly took the writing brush, ink, and bamboo slips from the wooden tray and left.

She walked out of the library, and Han Shu looked around and asked, "Why isn't the Grand Marshal coming out?"

"Guess." The maid rolled her eyes at Han Shu, then turned and carried the tray away.

The surrounding guards stared at Han Shu, who frowned and asked, "Have you checked everything carefully?"

"There are only bookshelves, and no one else."

One of the Tiger Guards answered, and the other Tiger Guards also answered: "We have checked the beams as well, and there is no one hiding there."

Han Shu nodded: "Let's go outside and warm ourselves by the fire."

In any case, how could an ordinary assassin possibly be a match for the Grand Marshal?

It was only because his side did not go all out in the decisive battle at Chenliu that Zhao Ji himself abandoned his bow and arrow and picked up a long-handled heavy axe to join the battle. That would have terrified the people of Guandong.

It was precisely because neither his own side nor Lü Bu had exerted their full strength that Lü Bu himself did not participate in the battle.

Smoking and open flames are strictly prohibited in the library, but the windows on the third floor are still open for ventilation.

Cai Zhaoji suddenly felt itchy by the pillar and rubbed her back against it, trying to scratch to relieve the itch. The process was very painful.

Seeing that she was uncomfortable, Zhao Ji had no choice but to scratch her itch.

Unexpectedly, in such a cold study, her back was slick with sweat, and Zhao Ji's soul tentacles were almost swollen from being soaked in sweat.

I could only push aside a layer of sweat and scratch the itch earnestly.

In terms of physical strength and explosiveness, this is by no means a fair competition.

How can literary exchange compare to a collision of souls?

As soon as the fire outside the library courtyard was lit, Cai Zhaoji's soul trembled, as if it had been smashed and shattered.

Han Shu warmed himself by the fire, listening intently, but heard nothing. He could only keep a straight face and communicate with the surrounding tigers through his eyes.

During this trip to Anyi, Zhao Yan also rewarded these people, both to thank them for protecting Zhao Ji on the battlefield and to hope that they would be given preferential treatment when traveling.

When faced with various situations that were both possible and impossible, Zhao Ji's guards would take the initiative to make arrangements, and many things would then succeed.

Why would someone as powerful as Zhao Ji need to bully men and women?

If you don't bribe and appease the people around Zhao Ji, do you still want to send your sisters and daughters over?
Inside the library, Zhao Ji felt rather bored and sat with his back against a pillar.

Cai Zhaoji, her hair disheveled, nestled in his arms, neither of them speaking.

After she had rested for a while, Zhao Ji said, "Tomorrow I will be inspecting Xiangyi, and in the next few days I will be going to the Yao Emperor's Mausoleum Temple to pay homage and visit the Empress. Are you going?"

"No, we're not going. There are too many books. We need to load them carefully to avoid confusion."

Cai Zhaoji's tone softened as she spoke words devoid of respect for the emperor, father, law, and morality: "This time, the officials almost harmed you. Next time, they will only escalate their actions, leaving no room for maneuver. The emperor can no longer be relied upon. It would be best if Consort Dong gave birth to a prince."

Feeling the warmth emanating from Zhao Ji, she continued, "Zhao Rui alone is not enough. We should petition the Emperor to send eunuchs to Pingyang to serve the Empress. The more people who come, the more secure the position of the eldest prince will become, and no one will be able to object. We should keep the son and remove the mother, sending Consort Dong back to the court for the Empress to raise."

Zhao Ji understood; this was to prepare in advance so that Consort Dong would give birth to a son who was a 100% likely to be the eldest prince.

Ideally, the eldest son of the emperor should be chosen; otherwise, an eldest son should be found as a backup for the emperor.

Simply holding onto the Empress is not enough.

If we can hold onto the Empress Dowager and the eldest prince, then we're in a stable position. We can appoint officials and make promises to them both outside the court to maintain unity.

In terms of hatred for the nobles, Cai Zhaoji's hatred was far deeper than Zhao Ji's.

Zhao Ji was forced into a corner and had no choice but to launch a military coup to seize power from the high-ranking officials. The situation quickly spiraled out of control, and he ended up killing the young and promising reserve officials Zhong Yao, Dong Zhao, and Ding Chong.

Strictly speaking, Zhao Ji was the challenger, while Gong Qing was on the defensive.

Compared to Zhao Ji, Cai Zhaoji is the true avenger.

Now that her empty heart has been filled and her life has found its anchor again, she naturally won't stand idly by and watch everything before her be destroyed.

If it can strengthen and expand the Zhao family's influence, then it should be done.

She whispered in Zhao Ji's ear, "In ancient times, there were emperors and empresses who shared power. Today's emperors and empresses can also be equals."

When the empress is in front of the emperor, she can refer to herself as "I, the Empress," but she is not "your subject."

Zhao Ji recalled something amusing and couldn't help but smile: "That's right, when a couple divorces, their joint property is divided, and it's only natural that the Empress takes half of the world."

Seeing that he didn't shy away from such matters and even said such strange things, Cai Zhaoji said, "If we raise an army to attack Luo again next year, all sides in the world will surely unite to fight us. They will never sit idly by and watch the powerful Qin rise again, so we must not be careless. Now, the only one who can share your fate is the Empress."

"how about you?"

"If the Grand Marshal is defeated, I will simply set the building on fire."

Cai Zhaoji calmly replied, "In such a chaotic world, without the Grand Marshal, what good would it do for me to live and suffer in vain?"

(End of this chapter)