fake gentry

In this situation, it's natural to play the "ambush from all sides" move.

After he finished playing, the Taiji Hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Shen Chong and Wang Han were so excited they could hardly contain themselves, while Lu Wan, Guo Pu, and the others were even trembling with fear. Qian Feng remained seated, but cold sweat dripped down her back as she squinted at Xie Hong.

He sensed a kind of desperate feeling, like that of a trapped beast. Was Xie Shizi alluding to the Prime Minister?

Only Wen Qiao cried uncontrollably.

Wang Dun raised his hand, only to find that the jade ruyi in his hand had broken into two pieces. Startled, he exclaimed, "The Guangling San is far inferior to this melody! Is there really such a joyous tune amidst the clash of spears and halberds in the world?"

Wen Qiao was still crying, which annoyed Wang Dun, but he couldn't scold him. He could only glance at Qian Feng. Qian Feng immediately comforted him, "Taizhen, why are you like this? Liu Yueshi's injustice has been redressed; you should be happy."

Wen Qiao was extremely carefree in Wang Dun's staff, but he was particularly fond of Qian Feng, who regarded him as a close friend.

Everyone present understood why Wen Qiao was crying.

Lu Wan sighed and said to Xie Hong, "In the past, Yue Shi Gong repelled 100,000 enemies with his Hu Jia. The song 'Feng Zhi' can also inspire the fighting spirit of 100,000. The music of 'Feng Zhi' should be the best in Jiangzuo."

Xie Hong then realized what was happening and couldn't help but glance at Wen Qiao again.

Yue Shi Gong was Liu Kun, Wen Qiao's maternal uncle.

After the Yongjia Rebellion, the north fell into a state of inter-tribal warfare. Liu Kun was appointed governor of Bingzhou and defended the isolated city of Jinyang, where he was besieged for a long time by the Xiongnu Han army, whose forces far outnumbered his own.

The city of Jinyang was extremely short of food and manpower, which directly led him into a desperate situation.

However, Liu Kun did not choose to break out of the encirclement. Instead, he climbed the city wall and played the Eighteen Songs of the Hu Jia every day, which instantly demoralized the Liu Han soldiers. The effect was comparable to the recruits singing "Green Flowers in the Army" every night.

Sure enough, a few days later the besieging army withdrew and the siege of Jinyang was lifted without a fight.

Liu Kun was not only Wen Qiao's uncle, but also his superior and subordinate.

Wen Qiao joined Liu Kun's staff in his early years, serving successively as a military advisor, a strategist, and a right military commander. He was Liu Kun's most trusted strategist and made many military achievements during the northern campaigns.

After the fall of the Western Jin Dynasty, Wen Qiao was ordered by Liu Kun to travel south to Jiangdong to persuade Sima Rui to ascend the throne. He then remained in the Eastern Jin Dynasty to assist Sima Rui. Later, Liu Kun's reckless advance led to the annihilation of his entire army, forcing Wen Qiao to seek refuge with Duan Pidi, the governor of Youzhou.

Less than two years later, Duan Pi's cousin was bribed by Shi Le, the King of Jie Zhao, which sowed discord between Duan Pi and Liu Kun, ultimately leading to Liu Kun being strangled by Duan Pi.

The Eastern Jin court also blamed Liu Kun for the loss of territory, but Wen Qiao continued to appeal for Liu Kun's exoneration until last year when Sima Rui finally exonerated Liu Kun, posthumously granting him the titles of Attendant-in-Ordinary and Grand Commandant. His posthumous title was Min.

No wonder Wen Qiao cried so sadly.

Unexpectedly, Wen Qiao suddenly grabbed the wine jug in front of him and poured it into his mouth, his face turning red. Then he stood up, raised the wine cup in his hand, and smashed it at Qian Feng.

Qian Feng couldn't dodge in time, and her headdress was smashed off, rolling far away.

Everyone was stunned.

"Qian Shiyi, what kind of creature are you? How dare you call Yue Shi Gong by his name? I, Wen Taizhen, was blind to have considered you a friend. From this day forward, I, Wen Taizhen, sever all ties with you. Prime Minister, three days from now, I will set off for Jiankang to become the Prefect of Danyang. I will never share a room with this man again."

After saying that, Wen Qiao slumped to the side and fell fast asleep in the main hall.

Everyone thought Wen Qiao was drunk, but Xie Hong was the only one who had a sudden realization.

He remembered a story called "using a plan on the spot".

This story tells of how Wen Qiao deliberately befriended Qian Feng to obtain information about Wang Dun's rebellion. Later, Qian Feng realized that Wen Qiao seemed to be a spy, so he advised Wang Dun that Wen Qiao had close ties with the court and was also very close to Yu Liang, so he could not be trusted. He said that even if Wen Qiao was not killed, he should not be allowed to go to Jiankang. As a result, Wang Dun appointed Wen Qiao as the governor of Danyang.

When Wen Qiao learned of this, he pretended to be drunk at the banquet, deliberately knocked Qian Feng's hat off, and publicly reprimanded him for disrespecting Wang Dun.

When Wen Qiao left Wuchang, Qian Fengdu was still advising Wang Dun to bring Wen Qiao back, but Wang Dun mistakenly thought that he was seeking revenge for personal grudges. In the end, Wen Qiao returned to Jiankang and told the court that Wang Dun did indeed have the intention to rebel.

Xie Hong never expected that he would witness this scene.

His gaze passed over Song Yi and landed on Qian Feng, who was frantically picking up her hat and putting it on her head, her face extremely gloomy.

After Wen Qiao's outburst, Wang Dun was extremely displeased and wanted to vent his anger on Wen Qiao, but he found that Wen Qiao was playing dead, so he could only suppress his anger and give up.

After Qian Feng sat down again, Wang Dun snorted and said, "Thank you, Fengzhi. I still have one more challenge. If you can satisfy me, I will give you both Yi Ji and Ke Ting Di."

Upon hearing Wang Dun's words, the entire hall was filled with astonishment.

Song Yi was Wang Dun's favorite, and everyone present knew that.

When Wang Dun first mentioned gifting Xie Hong a beautiful concubine, it was obviously not Song Yi, as Wang Dun had many beautiful concubines.

Wang Dun was quite pleased with himself for a long time after acquiring Song Yi from Shi Chong. Now that he's willing to give away his prized possession, this final challenge will surely be to make things difficult for Xie Hong.

But Xie Hong said from the beginning that he would never talk about metaphysics or Confucianism.

Even when discussing metaphysics and Confucianism, Lu Wan and others felt that Wang Dun was no match for Xie Hong.

After all, there are many famous scholars who can interpret Confucianism through metaphysics, but none of them can put forward the Four Books and Five Classics.

It goes without saying what Wang Dun wanted to ask.

Lu Wan finally started to get anxious.

He had already learned that his two sons had become friends with Xie Hongding. If he stood by and watched his sons' friend die without doing anything, it would surely damage the reputation of the Lu family of Wu County.

Wang Ahei actually used military affairs of the shogunate to make things difficult for Xie's son; he was simply not a human being.

As expected, Wang Dun spoke up, "I intend to launch a northern expedition. How many years will it take to complete?"

Xie Hong replied directly, "The title of Duke is unattainable."

Lu Wan nearly spat out his wine, and Qian Feng glared at Xie Hong. Wang Dun demanded, "What do you mean?"

Xie Hong thought to himself, "You're going to die in another year, what kind of Northern Expedition are you talking about? You even hesitate about things like rebelling and becoming emperor, how could you possibly be thinking about a Northern Expedition?"

If Wang Dun had captured Jiankang and killed Sima Rui at the beginning of the year, he could have been considered a true hero.

But he insisted on emulating his idol, Cao Cao.

Xie Hong stood up, bowed to Wang Dun, and said, "Your Excellency, please bestow upon me a map."

"Oh?" Wang Dun looked at Xie Hong with burning eyes. "You also know about maps?"

Xie Hong was too lazy to waste words; he could only see the most complete map of the world in Wang Dun's entourage.

This is a rare opportunity, we must seize it.

What was it like in the early Eastern Jin Dynasty?

The only territories that the imperial court could control were Yangzhou, Yuzhou, and Northern Xuzhou.

Wang Dun controlled almost half of the most central territory of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, namely Jiangzhou, Jingzhou, and other places.

Tao Kan in the south controlled Guangzhou and Jiaozhou, thus occupying another third of the territory.

There was a separatist regime in Sichuan and Chongqing called the Cheng Han state, which is known in modern history as the Cheng Han state.

The Xiongnu Han state that destroyed the Western Jin Dynasty became Zhao after Liu Yuan's death. Now it is divided into Han Zhao, which is partly controlled by Liu Yao, and Jie Zhao, which is partly controlled by Shi Le. Liu Yao is currently occupying the Guanzhong Plain, while Shi Le has not yet declared himself emperor. Zu Ti's northern expedition was mainly aimed at Jie Zhao.

Zu Ti's death led to the rise of the Jie Zhao state, and Shi Hu was about to conquer Yanzhou, and later even took Xuzhou and Yuzhou.

Wang Dun caused chaos, and Su Jun was thrown into further chaos.

Then the Jie Zhao destroyed the Han Zhao and joined forces with the Cheng Han to destroy the Eastern Jin. It wasn't until Huan Wen emerged thirty years later that the Eastern Jin could finally breathe a sigh of relief. But after only a few years of good times, the Former Qin came again.

Then came Huan Wen's three northern expeditions and the Battle of Fei River, which solidified the Xie clan of Chen Commandery's status as a top-tier aristocratic family. Liu Yu then overthrew the Qin Dynasty and replaced the Jin Dynasty, ushering in the Northern and Southern Dynasties period in Chinese history.

The map was quickly brought up and spread out directly in the main hall.

Everyone was looking at Xie Hong. Even Wen Qiao, who had been pretending to be drunk, woke up and sat on the side in a daze, seemingly in a mess, but his eyes were constantly glancing at Xie Hong.

Xie Hong didn't stand on ceremony and stepped forward to give his opinion on the situation.

The maps of this era were somewhat abstract, but he could at least understand them. Moreover, he had been exposed to the knowledge explosion, which gave him a grand worldview that no one else possessed.

Isn't this like giving a lesson to elementary school students?

Gentlemen, please call me your stern father.