From a son-in-law to a favorite of the empress

Chapter 1087

The fight was so serious that today's classes were affected. The guards took the injured to the clinic, which ended the farce.

Zhao Jianjia came to the girls' school. Before the class started, a student came to visit.

"Mr. Zhao..."

Seven or eight Confucian scholars in long gowns bowed to Zhao Jianjia.

One of them said, "Mr. Zhao... those recent poems and articles insulting students from other colleges were all written by us. We are here to admit our mistakes."

The others also said in unison, "Sorry, sir, we are here to admit our mistakes."

Zhao Jianjia frowned and said, "This matter is not my responsibility. I am only responsible for the affairs of the women's school, but the fact that you can come to me means that there is hope."

He looked at the leader and said, "What's your name?"

"Yang Dongsheng, a third-year student in the School of Arts."

Zhao Jianjia said, "Do you have any achievements?"

Yang Dongsheng nodded and said, "In the eleventh year of Zhaojing, I passed the imperial examination and was recommended to the Imperial Academy."

He paused slightly and whispered "Mr. Zhao, we didn't mean to scold students from other colleges, but they went too far."

"They don't respect the Holy Way, and they say we are just boastful and that we are misleading the country and the people."

"We have been learning literature since we were young, from sentence reading to poetry and essays, from history books to political commentary, working hard day and night, just to serve the country, but now we are being insulted like this, how can we not be angry!"

Other students also complained: "Yes, they scolded first."

"If they didn't despise the Holy Way, how could we despise them?"

"We are dedicated to the country, aren't we more noble than them?"

Hearing these words, Zhao Jianjia's head was big.

She shook her head and said, "Let's go. I don't want to hear you talk about this anymore. It's not too late to admit your mistakes when you figure it out."

Yang Dongsheng said, "Mr. Zhao, what exactly did we do wrong? Although it's too much for us to write poems to scold them, weren't they the ones who started the trouble first?"

Zhao Jianjia looked at him deeply and said, "Before you talk about patriotism, you should be tolerant first. Before you are proud of the holy way, you should be open-minded first."

"Come to me again when you figure out what I said. Let's go."

After she finished speaking, she went straight to the classroom and ignored these literary students.

...

In the secret stone room, only two candles were burning, and the flickering flames illuminated the shadows on the faces of everyone present.

The middle-aged man in armor gritted his teeth and said, "Although the war was tough, our Xining Guard, Suzhou Guard, and Liangzhou Guard were connected, integrated, and supported each other, and we have withstood the first phase of the opponent's offensive."

"It's okay to continue defending. At most, there will be greater sacrifices, but at least the city will not be broken."

"But...but Xiong Kuohai and Ye Mian have been investigating too fiercely recently. The Jinyi Guards are really a group of mad dogs. They have bitten out many merchants."

The old man with gray hair and beard said lightly, "They are smart people and will not investigate further."

The middle-aged man said, "Father, yes, they are smart people. They dare not involve us, but what about after the war?"

"Will they allow us to guard the West Xining Guard? Will we be the local emperors here? "

"The crimes we committed are worthy of extermination!"

The old man said in a deep voice: "Not really. We smuggled salt, iron and weapons to foreign tribes and made some money, but we also defended the land and did not let Xining Guard get into trouble for so many years."

"Your Majesty is a wise king. He will not let us be too miserable. Otherwise, who will guard Xining Guard in the future?"

"Fight this battle well and defend the northwest. I will write a letter to your majesty in person, explaining the accounts of smuggling over the years one by one, and ask your majesty to punish us."

"The Great Jin Dynasty has a lot of things to be rebuilt and urgently needs development. We have proved our loyalty. Your Majesty will show leniency."

The three middle-aged men looked at each other and sighed.

One of them said, "Dad, you think too simply. Our salt and iron sales can offset our merits, but... the cannons, we sold them and now they are outside the city to bombard us!"

"Even if we defend the northwest, there will be huge casualties. When the higher-ups find out, we will be finished."

"And... Yarkand... is also going to harm us!"

The old man's face changed, and he said in a deep voice, "Did someone contact you? Did someone say something to you!"

The middle-aged man said, "An envoy from Yarkand came and said that he wanted to expose the fact that we smuggled cannons and weapons and threatened us... to cooperate..."

The old man said coldly, "Absolutely impossible!"

The middle-aged man hurriedly said, "Dad! Yarkand took out the cannons and said that they were given by us. It's hard for us to deny it. We can't wash it clean!"

"Collaborating with the enemy and swindling the nine clans, our Ma family is really in tatters.The flying smoke was gone. "

The old man snorted heavily and said, "It is not up to Yeerqiang to decide. As long as the northwest is defended, the facts speak louder than words, and it is impossible to be colluding with the enemy."

"The current emperor is tolerant. Even if all the accounts are settled, we will at most be transferred from Xining Guard and deprived of our titles."

The middle-aged man looked at his father and said slowly, "Dad, you have been the Duke of Xihai for forty years, maybe you have had enough, but what about us?"

"Have you thought about your children and grandchildren? Are we willing to take risks? Are we willing to be ordinary people?"

The old man stood up slowly, stared at his eldest son, and said word by word, "Dog, do you want to sell Xining?"

The middle-aged man grinned and said, "Zhou Yuan can't beat the Tsarist Kingdom. As long as we open Xining Guard and let Yeerqiang in, Dajin will not be able to hold on. ”

“At that time, the Yarkand Khanate was a great dynasty spanning thousands of miles. The Khan has promised that he would make me the King of the West Sea!”

“That is the real peak of our Ma family.”

“Dad, you are old and it is time to retire.”

As soon as the voice fell, more than a dozen guards rushed in and surrounded the old man.

The old man looked at his son, was silent for a long time, and then slowly sat down.

He lowered his head, covered his face, and choked: “You…you think you have grown up and are going to make decisions for the Ma family, but you don’t know that this road is a dead end anyway.”

The middle-aged man knelt down and kowtowed: “Dad, I have no intention of being unfilial, but it is related to the survival and future of the family. I can’t let you be confused anymore.”

“The Great Jin Dynasty cannot win the war between the East and the West. A man who knows the current situation is a hero. We should indeed make a new choice.”

The old man said loudly: “Do you think Zhou Yuan is so easy to lose! He is stronger than Luo Hong and Song Shanao back then! Haven't his achievements in the past few years opened your eyes! "

The middle-aged man said: "But this time he encountered the most powerful army country in the world!"

"Dad, Zhou Yuan is a human, not a god."

"Instead of waiting to be liquidated by the court, it is better to give it a try!"

"In fact... the moment we entered the secret room, the city gate was already open, and the army of the Yarkand Khanate had already rushed into the city."

When the old man heard this, his face turned pale and he lay on the table.

He murmured: "Traitors... You are traitors... My Ma family has been nailed to the pillar of shame in history."