Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 294 City Foxes and Temple Rats: Slaying the Tyrant and Acting on Behalf of Heaven!
Under the same night sky, in the mysterious world of books—"The Story of Empress Wu Zetian and Ruyi Jun".

Inside the magnificent Wanxiang Palace, the tallest building in the Tang Dynasty, a group of blurry figures, mostly dressed in loose robes and wide belts, resembling famous scholars from the Wei and Jin Dynasties, were feasting.

This shrine is a three-story wooden structure.

The bottom square symbolizes the four seasons, the middle dodecagon corresponds to the twelve two-hour periods of the day, the top twenty-four-sided polygon represents the twenty-four solar terms, and the central structure is supported by a giant wooden beam.

It serves as both the main hall for government affairs and a place for sacrifices, and even from a hundred miles away, one can see a dazzling golden phoenix atop it.

On the gleaming floor of the top floor, a peerless beauty dressed in a sheer, colorful dress and wearing a golden phoenix crown is dancing gracefully.

A long red ribbon was tied around her fair ankle, and when she danced, it was as if she was walking on red clouds. Every move she made was breathtakingly beautiful.

She possesses both the gentle charm of women from the Central Plains and the fiery passion of women from the Western Regions.

Someone praised it, saying, "The pearl tassels swirl and the stars tremble; the flower vines shake and the dragons and snakes move."

Some also say, "The phoenix and the dragon soar, displaying their most exquisite beauty!"

What's most amazing about this woman isn't her appearance or dance moves, but the domineering and majestic aura she exudes, as if she could control the world and devour the four seas.

She moved around the table like a colorful cloud, pouring wine and serving dishes, captivating everyone present.

Especially when she looks down at someone with her domineering phoenix eyes and commands, "Traitor, do you dare not drink? Do you expect me to personally feed you?" it will elicit a wolf howl.

Even worse, some people were so excited and happy that they fainted after being slapped by her for touching them inappropriately.

And just by looking at her phoenix crown, one can tell that she is none other than the "Empress" who has been married to two generations of emperors, father and son.
Of course, this is just the unparalleled beauty imagined by the lecherous readers of this book in later generations.

When people look at her, they see the "Empress" in their own aesthetic sense; there are a thousand different Empresses in a thousand people's eyes.

Even a seasoned connoisseur like Lord Yan, who rarely had the chance to take his son-in-law to experience grand occasions, would likely have to admit defeat and offer a word of praise upon seeing them.
"You know how to have fun!"

"I'm so happy here that I don't even want to go back to my hometown!"

[Official and Killer Attacking Self] Gao Ren and Gao Jingzhong are also among them, located on the third layer, on the side representing the "Qingming" solar term of the twenty-four solar terms.

"Qingming" was the title of "Da Zhongzheng" passed down by his adoptive father, Fengzhou Shanren Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng. With this title, he would immediately become a fourth-rank official.

Gao Ren sat behind his adoptive father and was also poured a glass of wine by the stunningly beautiful empress in his heart. Looking at the peerless beauty before him who perfectly matched his aesthetic, his heart burned with desire.

“This Guishan Bookstore is indeed very promising. I, Gao Jingzhong, will continue to climb higher and become one of the twenty-four Grand Justices, and I will receive the honorary titles of the twenty-four solar terms.”

To become the Empress's intimate companion.

We must also learn from our adoptive father and the heads of various gentry and wealthy families, doing the most despicable things in the highest echelons of society! The beauties of high society should be paired with us despicable ones!

Suddenly, he understood his former boss, Mao Haifeng, the "Black Kirin".

“It is my inescapable responsibility, Gao Ren, to sweep all of my adoptive father’s sons out of the house and inherit all his land, wealth, status, and connections!”
It is our inescapable duty to revitalize the Gao family.

When will my godfather die? I can't wait any longer.

Under normal circumstances, only those whose official rank and position correspond to a vacant one of the twenty-four solar terms can be selected by the "Nine-Rank Official System" to become a Grand Justice.

The novelist's inspiration, a blend of reality and fiction, comes precisely from the third phase of the Qingming Festival, when rainbows begin to appear.

The rainbow, pronounced "hong," is the energies of yin and yang coming together. It does not appear when there is pure yin or pure yang. However, when the clouds are thin and the sun shines through the rain, a rainbow can be seen.

Therefore, the people of Fengzhou Mountain are Qingming.

But those Confucian scholars who passed down their knowledge of poetry and literature were an exception.

Their spiritual inspiration comes from the second phase of the Autumnal Equinox, "Heaven and Earth Begin to Be Solemn," which is associated with the concept of "not being a vessel" (不器), meaning that a gentleman is not a vessel (不器).

One can be a leader in any field, without being restricted by legal rank, and can be any one of the twenty-four solar terms.

Gao Ren did not follow the normal promotion process. Instead, Lanling Xiaoxiaosheng directly bestowed upon him the title of "Novelist," and the only position he could hope to attain was "Qingming."

Or it could be the solar term "Rain Water" that corresponds to Bai Shuilang.

Unfortunately, both of those positions are already taken.

"Fellow practitioners, please be quiet and listen to what I have to say."

Gao Ren looked in the direction of the sound.

The one who spoke was the Autumn Equinox, one of the twenty-four solar terms. His face was blurry, making it impossible to discern his exact identity, but his official robes were quite distinctive.

The official robes of the Zhao Dynasty were embroidered with birds and beasts, with civil officials wearing birds to symbolize civilization: cranes, golden pheasants, peacocks, and wild geese.
Military officers are depicted as beasts to demonstrate their ferocity: lion, tiger, leopard, bear, leopard cat, rhinoceros, seahorse.
The insignia on this person's official robe did not depict any of the "civilian birds and martial beasts".

Instead, it is a cunning, grinning fox and a smug, gray rat, which together form the phrase "city fox and temple rat"!
"Furthermore, foxes are attacked by people, and rats are smoked by people; I have never seen foxes attacked or rats smoked. Why is that? It is because of what they are used for."

Corrupt officials in a country are like foxes hiding in city walls or rats lurking in temples; you want to catch them, but you have to be careful. If you dig out the foxes, you might damage the city walls; if you smoke out the rats or drown them, you might damage the shrines and temples.

Wearing such an official robe makes it immediately clear that this is a petty person who abuses his power to commit evil and is difficult to eradicate.

As far as Gao Ren knew, this "Autumn Equinox" was a genuine high-ranking deity in the world, a core member among core members.

Or is it the direct instigator of this strange phenomenon of "five-colored rat demons and a huge corrupt official in the country"?

Originally, the years of effort to control the rat infestation were in preparation for the downfall of the emperor. However, due to the sudden intrusion of the elixir of immortality, the fire was unexpectedly brought to the emperor's head.

This also serves as a prelude for the true leader of the Guishan Academy, [Lichun], to activate the talisman that could kill the head of the academy, in order to achieve the most powerful effect.

"The emperor is from the largest aristocratic family in China, and he should be of the same ilk as us."

But the moment they became royalty, their stance was opposed to ours.

There are only so many sheep in total. If you eat more, I will inevitably have to eat less. Only if you eat less can I eat more.

How absurd is it to use the resources of the entire nation, the people's hard-earned money, to support a single family or clan? Such greed is bound to lead to their demise!

The royal family of the Great Zhao Kingdom consumes 30% of the nation's annual revenue; they are the biggest fat pig and rat in this land.

Where is the prosperous scene of the ancient times when the emperor and scholar-officials ruled together in this Great Zhao? The salary we receive is even less than that of the weak Song Dynasty. The Han emperor is simply turning the world upside down!

What's more, that tyrannical ruler even dared to dream of immortality, hoping to forever be superior to us.

Ladies and gentlemen, is this the last straw?

Everyone here is making decisions based on their own interests.

Their social class determined their stance, and they were all filled with righteous indignation:

"Absolutely unacceptable!"

"Slay the tyrannical ruler and uphold justice on behalf of Heaven!"

[Autumn Equinox] pressed his hand down and continued:

"To tell you the truth, our Guishan Academy has more than one talisman that can restrain the Lord of the State."

However, we have intervened several times, and that tyrant has escaped death by chance each time. Now, after reigning for forty years, he has become the longest-reigning emperor in the history of the Great Zhao Dynasty.

His own cultivation level had also reached the first rank.

Now we have no choice but to bring out our most treasured possession, the [Lichun] leader and several gentlemen, who have already begun the ritual.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, tonight will be the night the tyrant is beheaded! Behold!

Upon hearing this, Gao Ren realized that the higher-ups at Guishan Bookstore had no intention of waiting for the "Five Organs Returning to Truth Pill" to be refined before sending the emperor on his way ahead of schedule.

Even if it's a failure, the 49-day time limit means there's still a chance to make amends.

Then, the interplay of light and shadow in the center of the Myriad Manifestations Palace revealed a scene of Jade Capital City under the Blood Moon.

Zhizhizhi.
Suddenly, a loud squeaking of rats filled the air, the gates of hell opened, and five-colored rat demons swarmed in like a tidal wave.

Ordinary members were trembling with excitement at the fact that their secret society had managed to raid the imperial city and assassinate a ruler.

Only Qiufen and a group of other high-ranking living ghosts and deities who knew the inside story frowned slightly:

"What's going on? Why are there so few five-colored rat demons?"

The imperial city was heavily guarded.

What a clever political monster Emperor Shaozhi was!

As soon as there was the slightest disturbance among the people, he immediately realized that it was aimed at him, much earlier than Wang Cheng noticed something was wrong.

He ordered the three elite battalions of the Temple Army's Ghost Soldiers to surround the capital like an iron barrel.

The Five Military Camps consisted of infantry and cavalry, responsible for the daily training of the capital's guards and the rotating cavalry and infantry troops from the capital's military commands in the northern provinces.

The Three Thousand Battalion: In addition to patrolling, they were mainly responsible for the emperor's ceremonial guards, such as carrying the dragon flag, the imperial banner, and the command flag.

Shenji Battalion: Specializing in firearms, the earliest organized firearms unit in the Great Zhao Dynasty.

The elite troops of the Beijing garrison were all gathered here. The rats had barely appeared when a patrolman fired a warning shot from the sky.

Snapped!
A loud explosion woke up half of the capital.

(End of this chapter)