Chastity Layman

The cool water of Xuanwu Lake is crystal clear, and the fish are swimming.

A small boat, a long pole.

Qin Lang was fishing on the lake.

Qin Jun ran over anxiously, "Grandpa, it's not good, the government has undergone drastic changes, and Cui Xiang and Lai Ji have both been dismissed."

The fish mark was floating, Qin Lang did not rush to lift the rod, but waited quietly for a while, and only when the fish mark was pulled a lot, he began to lift the rod to reel in the line.

Water ripples everywhere.

A very big fish appeared, it struggled but could not get off, Qin Lang slipped slowly, after a while the fish was finally tired, Qin Lang dragged the fish to the shore little by little.

Qin Jun lifted the net to catch the big fish, then stretched out his hand to dig it in from the big fish's mouth, pulling the big fish up with great effort.

"It's such a big fish. I'm afraid it must weigh twenty or thirty catties. It's really a giant."

Xuanwu Lake is the back lake of Luzon. This lake is almost as big as 20 West Lakes in Hangzhou. The huge inner lake has unique conditions. It is connected to San Francisco by a big river, which makes Xuanwu Lake and San Francisco Bay one of Luzon today. There are two major port areas within one.

Along Xuanwu Lake, there are now countless villages and towns.

"Grandpa?"

"Why panic, the sky won't fall." Qin Lang took a thick abaca rope and tied up the big fish's mouth first, and then the father and son worked together to lift the big fish onto the boat.

The fish struggled hard, but to no avail.

"This is a bighead carp. The stewed tofu with fat head is just right. It's also good to marinate the fish tail and make it fried with mildewed fish."

Seeing that his father was still so calm, Qin Jun couldn't help but said again, "Grandfather, both Prime Minister Cui and Prime Minister Lai have been demoted from the court, and Prime Minister Lai was demoted to the Western Regions. After Prime Minister Cui was dismissed, he was first demoted to Prince Zhan Shi , and demote the Yongchang Dao Propaganda Envoy."

"Where's the letter?"

Qin Lang washed his hands and carefully read the letter sent urgently from Luoyang. The letter was not too long, but the content was astonishing enough.

Qin Lang's closest political allies in the court, brother-in-law Lai Ji and uncle Cui Dunli both dismissed and demoted, and Xu Jingzong also turned into Zuo Servant.

Although there are still many people in the court who Qin Lang supported or made friends with over the years, such as Shang Guanyi, who is his student and is still a scholar of the Imperial Academy, Xu Jingzong has only changed to Zuo Pushe and is still the prime minister.

For example, there are many important officials in Liubu Shangshu, Zhongshu Sheren, and Gishizhong, and there are also many of them.

But Qin Jun's worry was right. Since the emperor made a move, and he went straight to the second minister Cui Lai as soon as he made a move, it was tantamount to directing his sword at the Qin family.

When shooting a man, shoot a horse first, and when capturing a thief, first capture the king.

On the one hand, concubine Huangchen and concubine Huanggui were canonized before the four concubines, and on the other hand, Qin Lang's two most important allies in the court were given to the prime ministers.

It was obvious that he was here for Qin Lang.

The emperor's move, who doesn't understand his thoughts, is to completely get rid of the idea that everyone thought before that Su Liqin should be abolished, and Jin Wang Li Xian should be replaced by Prince Li Xiang.

The emperor's ability to play tricks has indeed become more and more powerful. At the beginning, he pretended to throw out the matter of abolishing Su Liqin to divide the veterans and ministers, and then wooed Xu Jingzong and the military group to attack Changsun Wuji's Guanlong Yuanxun faction with all his strength.

He successfully cleaned up Changsun Wuji's party thoroughly, and now he turned his head and started attacking Qin Lang again.

"Grandfather, why?"

"what why?"

"Grandfather was originally the hero of Zhenguan's co-consulting and decision-making. During the Zhenguan Dynasty, he made countless achievements, and he even made great contributions to the present. Ask the government. Why do you still treat us like this?"

Qin Jun's face was red with anger.

Qin Lang sighed, "You're already in your thirties, why haven't you calmed down a bit?"

"My son is just not convinced!"

Qin Lang tore up the letter and sprinkled it into the lake, watching the ink stains on the shredded paper gradually blur when it met the water, the absorbent paper slowly sank, and finally disappeared little by little.

"Actually, I have expected this day. It should come anyway, so I'm not surprised at all."

Qin Jun was a little puzzled.

Qin Lang looked at the eldest son, although he was a concubine, but Qin Lang paid a lot for him, especially after he retired to Lu Song, he even taught the eldest son far beyond others.

"I heard that there is a rumor in the south that there is a saint in the South China Sea, and this saint is me."

Qin Jun nodded. The saying of the Saint of the South China Sea has actually been around for a long time. It has been circulating for about ten years, and with the passage of time, it was only spread in the Jiaoguang area at first, and now it has gradually been spread in the entire coastal area and even the Central Plains. The same gradually spread inland.

Everyone called Qin Lang a sage of the South China Sea. This was not deliberately spread by Qin Lang, but it was indeed spread spontaneously from the common people, and spread farther and farther by the merchants.

The origin of its name is because of the development of Lingnan driven by maritime commerce and trade over the years. In the early Tang Dynasty, Lingnan was relatively prosperous in the three cities of Guangxi, Guizhou and Jiaotong. Rampant, not to mention the slang barbarians everywhere.

Maritime trade has continued to flourish for more than 30 years, and even many southerners along the coast today are a generation born after the opening of maritime trade.

The Lingnan area, which was wild and backward in the past, is quite different now, especially the coastal areas, which are very prosperous, not to mention the prosperous scenes of those ports.

And Qin Lang has managed Wu'an and Wu Song for more than 30 years, turning countless poor people from the Central Plains and barbarians from Lingnan into landlords and rich merchants. Even many barbarians in the mountains have now become mine owners. wait.

Even the impoverished Fujian area in the past, known as eight mountains, one water and one field, has no roads to facilitate communication with the surrounding areas. It is a closed place that can be affected even in troubled times.

However, in recent years, countless Fujianese have left the mountains to do business or go out to work, and many have migrated to Wu'an, Luzon, Liuqiu and other places, becoming new immigrants and enjoying waves of great dividends of pioneering and colonizing.

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, Mrs. Xian Tai, the head of the family of Feng Xian, was able to command the various tribes in Lingnan, coordinate everyone to live and work in peace and contentment, protect the environment and the people, and make Lingnan less tragic than the Central Plains in troubled times. Mrs. Tai is honored as the Holy Mother of Lingnan.

Compared with Mrs. Xian, Qin Lang, who is now the King of Qi in Qin Langjue and owns Lu Song, will only be stronger in any aspect.

Therefore, as soon as the title of Saint in the Sea came out, it was actively spread widely by everyone.

King of Heaven, God of War, Immortal of Poetry, etc. are not enough to express respect for this person. With the earth-shaking changes that Qin Lang has done, it is not an exaggeration to call him a saint.

"You were born in the Zhenguan Dynasty. You have never experienced the chaotic times at the end of the Sui Dynasty, and you have never seen the tragedy of the people in that era. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, there were millions of conscripts in Liaodong, and millions of civilians. They transported grain from Jianghuai to Liaodong. The hardships and dangers on the road made people have to cut off their own hands to escape the Eastern Expedition."

"On the other hand, the sons of officials and aristocrats with some abilities deliberately committed some petty crimes, such as privately slaughtering cattle and going to prison to avoid service. In order to escape the Eastern Expedition."

I cut off one of my hands and feet, and said it was a blessing, because after I lost my hands and feet, I didn't have to go to Liaodong to fight or transport food.

"But after the great chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty really broke out, it was useless to be blessed. There was famine everywhere, refugees everywhere, and the people were so hungry that they couldn't help it. They ate up their food, livestock, and seeds. They sold all their property, and finally sold their children and daughters. After they are sold out, they can only wander in the wild like locusts. After eating all the grass roots and bark, they even eat soil, just to relieve their hunger. And die a tragic end."

"There is a saying that it is better to be a dog of peace than to be a person in troubled times. It is difficult for people of your generation to understand the meaning of this sentence now, but for people of our generation, we all personally experienced it back then. There are Turks and other foreign races outside the pass. Repeated invasions and looting, while bandits are everywhere in the prefecture and county, and refugees are everywhere, do you know what the worst thing is?"

"It's not that you lose all your property, you don't even sell your sons and daughters, you cut off your siblings. The most tragic thing in this world is to change your sons and eat them."

"When you are so hungry that your eyes shine, all the order and rules are gone, and there is only one thing left in your heart. Find food and eat everything you can, just to survive."

"Hungry people cross the border like locusts, robbing all they can eat. But in such a chaotic world, there are too many hungry people, and there is nowhere to feed them."

Qin Lang sighed.

"People who are hungry will eat their starving companions and will not waste any food that can be eaten, even if these starving people are only skin and bones."

"At the worst time, everyone can only change their sons and eat. Can you imagine, that kind of situation, that kind of despair?"

Changing children to eat is already the last bit of human struggle of the hungry.

They retain the last bit of humanity, trading their children with others to eat instead of eating their own children directly.

What does it mean to be a dog of peace rather than a person in troubled times?

This is, in troubled times, people are not as good as dogs at all.

In order to survive, the starving people can do anything, there is no law and no morality, and in an era without law and morality, the people at the bottom are actually the worst.

It was an era of slaughtering each other. Hungry refugees robbed all the way. Out of control, they were no longer just robbing food. All the evils of human nature became extremely evil after losing the last bit of restraint.

And some powerful landlords and powerful people will also use all their wealth to recruit Ding Yong to protect themselves, and they will kill refugees.

In troubled times, the government army besieges the refugees, but they often become bandits.

Even after the most tragic ten years, after the Tang Dynasty defeated Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande, the world was almost unified, but the life of the people in the Wude Dynasty and the beginning of Zhenguan was not easy.

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the troubled times were relatively short, and the succession of the Sui and Tang Dynasties was very fast.

Under the rule of the Tang Dynasty, countless refugees were able to return to their hometowns and rebuild their homes, but facing their almost ruined homes, life was not easy.

In particular, the laws and taxes in the Wude Dynasty were almost a replica of the Sui Dynasty, and they had to face Turkic invasions from time to time, so the people in the Wude Dynasty still had a difficult life.

"No one cares about the barbarians in Lingnan. When I first went south, in the mountainous area of ​​Wuling, many barbarians there liked to steal children from other tribes and sell them as slaves for money. Many tribes even sold their own children. The children were sold, some were even sold while they were still in the womb, and some had already received a deposit in advance and agreed to sell them to traffickers before they were pregnant..."

"Wars, disasters, diseases, taxes, the vast majority of people are just struggling to survive. Looking at today, many people are truly living a human life."

Living and working in peace and contentment, with light taxes, not to mention the clean government, all these are the dividends brought about by the prosperity of maritime trade and foreign expansion and colonization.

Many poor people became landlords, many beggars became wealthy businessmen, and the ignorant mountain barbarians had the opportunity to study and get an education.

Although in Qin Lang's view, even in the relatively developed areas of Luzon and Wu'an, the lives of the vast majority of the people can only be regarded as mediocre. It's just shameful to have clothes to cover your body.

And there are millions of alien populations who are actually enslaved slaves.

But even so, everyone is very satisfied.

In Qin Lang's eyes, poverty and deprivation, but in their eyes, there is food, clothing, warmth, and a stable and contented life. Even those slaves feel that they are protected by the law, have basic human rights, and can live on. A little bit of hope.

Qin Jun and his generation were born in the peaceful era, and even the younger generation, they have not experienced those troubled times, and there is no obvious contrast, so they often cannot appreciate the contrast.

But for many people over the age of 30, they have a very clear understanding.

For all this, of course, we must first thank the Emperor Shengzu, but Qin Lang's prestige in Lingnan is also unparalleled. In the eyes of many people, the Emperor Shengzu is far away. Compared with Qin Lang, who has always been in Lingnan, That's what you can really feel.

Saints of the South China Sea.

Qin Lang's prestige is very high, both the government and the public have high prestige, but in the southeast coast, it is even higher.

Even so high that he only knows that there is a sage of Qin, but not that there is an emperor.

In Lu Song, everyone only knew the King of Qi and the Qin family, but they didn't pay attention to the Tang Dynasty and the Son of Heaven.

Because Qin Lang and the Qin family are closely related to everyone's life, they are the ones who really change everyone's destiny.

The emperor of Luoyang will not be blind and deaf. The emperor must also know about these things here.

"My Qin family has such a high reputation and even strong strength. After Changsun Wuji and other senior officials of the Guanlong faction were purged, how could the emperor appoint your aunt as the queen and the prince born by her as the prince? A slightly normal emperor , wouldn’t do that.”

The stronger the Qin family's strength and the higher Qin Lang's prestige, the more unlikely it would be for the emperor to appoint Li Xian as the crown prince. An overly powerful relative would threaten the imperial power. After all, Yang Jian is a not-too-distant precedent.

When Changsun Wuji was in court, Qin Lang was out, so the emperor's first target must be Changsun Wuji. At this time, the emperor needed the support of Qin Lang and his allies behind him, but now that Changsun Wuyi's party has been eliminated.

The former dragon-slaying teammate has become a new dragon.

The Emperor's Dragon Slaying Saber was naturally about to be swung at Qin Lang.

"Then what should we do? We can't be captured and sit waiting for death like Changsun Wuji." Qin Jun gritted his teeth, saw no one around, and lowered his voice, "It's really impossible, let's rebel here in Luzon, Shuqi Act righteously and establish yourself as king!"

Qin Lang admired the courage of the eldest son, but shook his head and was dissatisfied with his recklessness.

"Remember, it's not just about fighting and killing in this world, there are also people who know the world. Soldiers come to block water and flood the earth. We are now at the table, as long as we still hold enough chips, we can slowly confront each other and negotiate. Lifting the table is the most stupid." Qin Lang taught his son.

The emperor made a move, and the move would be, if he raised the flag rashly, it would be a rebellion, which Li Yin probably couldn't wish for.

How could he do what he wanted!