Daming: At the start of the showdown, Lao Zhu was stunned

Chapter 1009: Brotherly Friendship and Respect (Annam Version)

It was a farce that ended abruptly with the intervention of the teacher of the academy. But it was obvious that Li Cang was not convinced. When he was taken away by Huang Guan's men, he took the time to glare at Huang Huai fiercely, his heart full of resentment towards Huang Huai.

In his opinion, it was because Huang Huai did not accept his provocation that the teacher came and made him lose face.

Huang Huai, on the other hand, still looked calm and followed Huang Guan obediently.

The two of them will be the first students in the academy to experience the "punishment of confinement".

The so-called "confinement punishment" is actually confinement in a small dark room. This kind of punishment was established by Zhu Su in the early Bifengshan Academy and the Imperial College of the Ming Dynasty. In name, the students were locked in a dark room where they could not see their hands in front of their faces to reflect on their mistakes; in fact, this kind of environment where there is nothing and nothing can be done is the most torturous to a person's spirit. In the Imperial College, everyone was terrified when they heard about it.

This kind of punishment was even improved by the Jinyiwei and used to force prisoners to confess, which shows how much it tortured the prisoners mentally.

However, in Annan, no one knew the horror of this punishment. Li Cang even thought: Isn't it just being locked up in the room for a day and a night? When I get out, I must challenge Fan Huai again.

This person didn't dare to accept the challenge, which must have revealed his cowardice. Then, as long as he defeated him, he would be the de facto number one in the school, and would definitely be favored by His Majesty King Zhou.

With full of fighting spirit, Li Cang was locked in the dark room. Huang Guan had already seen his expression, and when the door closed, he couldn't help but shook his head.

Although this young man from the Li family has some talent, he is too utilitarian and too impatient...it is difficult for him to achieve great things.

But it doesn’t matter. The more mediocre the Li family’s descendants are, the greater the benefit they will bring to the Ming Dynasty.

He turned to look at Huang Huai, who was using the alias Fan Huai, and said to him, "Zong Yu, you don't have to go to that dark room."

"Come with me, His Highness wants to see you."

"Yes." Huang Huai responded lightly, and followed Huang Guan to bypass the dark room where he was supposed to be imprisoned.

Poor Li Cang, he had no idea that "Fan Huai", whom he regarded as a thorn in his side, was actually a relative of Li Cang.

If he knew that "Fan Huai" didn't even need to be put in solitary confinement, I wonder if he would be so angry that he would die...

Huang Huai got on the carriage that Huang Guan had already prepared for him, and came to the backyard of Wuqu Yamen, where he saw Zhu Su who was busy at his desk.

"Your Highness."

"Zong Yu, you are here. Sit down." Seeing him coming, Zhu Su raised his head and put the pen in his hand aside.

Huang Huai sat down according to what he said, and Zhu Su smiled and said, "Very good, you won the first place this time."

"Your Highness, you are too kind." Huang Huai still looked calm and even revealed a bit of helplessness, saying: "Huai originally thought that I would take it step by step, first get a middle place, and then strive to be the top next time."

"Who would have thought that the nobles in Annan are really... the holy learning is not flourishing. I hope that it will not arouse suspicion from others and ruin your highness's plan."

Speaking of this, Huang Huai smiled bitterly.

Zhu Su also laughed in silence. If people heard Huang Huai's Versailles, all the nobles of Annan would be offended.

However, he was not completely arrogant and looked down on the Annan people. During the month of teaching these Annan children, Zhu Su himself could find that although these Annan nobles had access to classics and articles, most of them were ignorant and had obviously not really put in the effort to study.

Annan was not big to begin with, and these nobles had monopolized all books and knowledge, which led to a sharp decline in the number of civilians who read books. They themselves did not value diligence, and the imperial examinations were full of malpractices and were in name only... It would be strange if the scholars of Annan could compete with the talents of Huang Huai, who were born out of national internal competition.

"That's fine." Zhu Su said with a smile. "Those Annan people have been at ease for a long time. If you give them a little genius shock, they will be more hostile to you."

"After you get the top score a few more times, I will make arrangements to take you in as my disciple. Before that, I will try to make you the representative of the ordinary department. You need to act according to the situation and stir up hostility between the ordinary department and the elite department."

"Of course, you can't reveal any traces and you need to protect yourself. Is it possible?"

"Yes." Huang Huai answered without hesitation. He thought to himself that he hadn't even had time to do anything today, and the people from the Elite Department had already come to find fault with him.

That aggressive fellow named Li Cang could be used for something.

"In that case, you can go down first." Zhu Su said. "You can stay here and study first, and I will send someone to take you back to the teaching garden tomorrow."

Huang Huai bowed and left. Huang Guan said with emotion: "This shows how corrupt the Annan nobles are. It would be unjust if such a country did not perish."

"Yes." Zhu Su lowered his head and looked at the list of this month's exam. "We still need to train a few more talents in the general subjects. Only one 'Fan Huai' is not enough to make these children of local tyrants want to replace the nobles."

"At least, we need five or six more people who can defeat those sons of the noble families and rank among the top 20... Huh?"

Hearing Zhu Su's surprised voice, Huang Guan couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness, what's wrong?"

"...There was even an ordinary science student who ranked eighth."

"Really?" Huang Guan took two steps forward and looked at the monthly exam ranking that Zhu Su handed over. "Li Li... I have some impression of him. He seems to be a taciturn young student."

"I didn't expect that he was a promising talent."

"Yes." Zhu Su nodded, but he felt strange. This Le Loi had the same surname and name as the Annan monarch who took advantage of the Ming Dynasty and established the Le Dynasty after the Ming Dynasty withdrew from Annan. I don't know if it was just a coincidence or if it was really this person.

However, Annan is not a large area, and its population is equivalent to that of a county in the Central Plains, so there are not many people. Knowing that this Ming Dynasty person is recruiting disciples here, all those who are interested in learning literature in Annan should come to Wu Qu. The history books say that Le Loi was born in a merchant family. Even if Le Loi is the later Le Taizu who took advantage of it, it is not unexpected.

"Pay close attention to this Li Li," said Zhu Su.

"Since this person has achieved such results in a short period of time, he must be unwilling to be mediocre. We can try to win him over."

"Perhaps, it can be a help to our great cause."

Since he could become the future founder of Annan, he must be an ambitious person. Zhu Su now wanted to stir up the ambitions of the Annan people, so that they would think of ways to overthrow the Li family and other noble families... In this way, the Ming Dynasty would have the opportunity to reap the benefits.

As for whether Li Li would get another chance in the future... Zhu Su believed that Old Zhu would make proper arrangements for this person.

"Yes." Huang Guan nodded and secretly took note of Le Loi. Zhu Su thought for a moment and turned to ask Sam Bao who was standing beside him, "Did the person who arranged to contact the Nguyen family send back any news?"

"Your Highness," Sanbao bowed respectfully. "We have bribed a retainer of the Ruan family and asked him to advise the head of the Ruan family, Ruan Duofang, to take the initiative to show goodwill to our Daming."

"Ruan Duofang has already made his move and is preparing the gifts needed to meet His Highness. I think he will come to meet His Highness soon."

"Okay." Zhu Su said. After thinking for a while, he told Sam Bao, "There is a rumor in Thang Long City that the Nguyen family is friendly with the Ming Dynasty... Make sure to let the Le family know."

"Yes." Sanbao took the order and went downstairs to make arrangements.

"Li Ji'ni, Li Ji'ni, you must be more alert. Don't let my seductive eyes be seen by a blind man..." Zhu Su said to himself.

……

Fortunately, Zhu Su's expectations did not fall through. As a powerful official in Annan, the ambitious Le Qui Ly would naturally not relax his attention and monitoring of his political enemy, the Nguyen family. Therefore, as soon as the news spread in the market, Le Qui Ly quickly learned the news.

"Nguyen wants to go to Wu Qu Port to give gifts? Does he want to befriend the Ming Dynasty?" Almost the moment he heard the news, alarm bells immediately rang in Li Jili's heart.

At this time, he was not in Thang Long City, but was suppressing a rebellion of the slaves of a local noble family more than 100 miles south of Thang Long City. He rose to prominence because of his military achievements, and Tran Nghia of Annan relied heavily on his ability to lead troops. Therefore, when they heard that there was a rebellion within a hundred miles of Thang Long City, they were so scared that they immediately sent him, the "first famous general of Dai Viet".

Speaking of which, Nguyen Duo Fang of the Nguyen clan was actually a famous general in Dai Viet. In terms of military talent, he was recognized as being on par with Le Qui Ly in the small court of Annan.

The two of them rose to prominence during the war between Annan and Champa. Due to the corruption of the Tran dynasty, Annan was at the mercy of the invasion of Champa in the south. Le Qui Ly and Nguyen Duo Fang were appointed to take charge of the situation and helped Annan repel the attacks of Champa several times, thus earning great political prestige.

But Le Qui Ly was good at networking and disguising himself. In addition, his aunt was the biological mother of Chen Yizong, and he was also a royal relative. Therefore, in the eyes of Chen Yizong, the actual ruler of the Chen Dynasty, Le Qui Ly was undoubtedly more trustworthy than the domineering Nguyen Duo Fang.

Therefore, Nguyen Duo Fang was very resentful towards Le Qui Ly. When Le Qui Ly learned that Emperor Chen Fei intended to eliminate the Le family, Nguyen Duo Fang deliberately persuaded Le Qui Ly to abandon his official position and escape under an assumed name, intending to let Le Qui Ly give up his power himself.

Unexpectedly, Li Jili did not listen to his "good advice", but turned around and brazenly deposed the emperor, and finally killed the deposed emperor Chen who was also his brother. It can only be said that Brother Jimao is indeed a ruthless person.

Before this, Nguyen Duo Phuong and Le Qui Ly were actually sworn brothers. After his attempt to assassinate Le Qui Ly failed, Nguyen Duo Phuong simply stopped pretending and came clean, gathering people in the court to directly confront Le Qui Ly.

It can be said that Ruan Duofang is now the number one thorn in Li Ji's eyes. Even in his dreams, Li Ji's heart is filled with hope to kill this "brother" who has been making things difficult for him and making his life difficult.

In the original history, when Le Qui Ly lost a battle against Champa, he did push all the blame for his defeat onto Nguyen Dai Fang in front of Tran Ngei Ton, which led to Tran Ngei Ton directly ordering Nguyen Dai Fang to be executed. It can be said that this pair of sworn brothers were extremely friendly and respectful to each other.

However, in today's timeline, in order to make the internal political situation of Annan more chaotic and accelerate the demise of Annan, Zhu Yuanzhang strictly ordered Champa, which was also a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, to attack Annan. Therefore, Le Qui Ly did not find an opportunity to shirk responsibility, and he and his good brother Nguyen Duo Fang continued to love and hate each other in the court.

As a sworn brother, Le Qui Ti knew his sworn brother very well, and knew that he was just like himself, and would definitely not show mercy and would kill his sworn brother if he got the chance. He frowned, and was extremely worried about the Nguyen family's beginning to think of relying on the power of the Ming Dynasty.

It is true that Le Qui Ly was a powerful official in Annan. Even the power of the Nguyen family was far inferior to that of his Le family.

However, the influence of the Ming Dynasty was too great. If the Ming Dynasty openly supported the Ruan family, even Chen Yizong, who trusted him very much, would probably have to make use of the Ruan family.

Moreover, if he wanted to make further progress quickly, he could not do without the support of the Ming Dynasty. He had already established the image of "the first person in the new learning of Annan" in the small court of Annan. If the leader of the new learning of the Ming Dynasty that he invited turned his attention to the Nguyen family, where would he be?
How could he integrate the government and opposition in Annan by stirring up party disputes and deal with all those who were at odds with the Li family?

"Pingzhang (Le Jixi's official title), this matter may not be good." His trusted adviser Fan Julun frowned. "The Ming court has evil ambitions. If they ally with the Nguyen family, I am afraid we will be in a more passive position in the future."

"We must stop this, otherwise, I'm afraid that all the great things Pingzhang has planned will fail."

"I also know that this matter is of great importance." Li Ji said. "However, I have also tried to show my goodwill to the King Zhou of the Ming Dynasty before, but the King Zhou was indifferent. Ruan Duofang is just a crude warrior, how can he impress the King Zhou who is so arrogant?"

"The Nguyen family and our Le family are different after all." Fan Ju said. "Pingzhang is already second only to our Great Viet, while Nguyen Duofang, in terms of fame and power, is still far behind."

"As far as the Ming Dynasty is concerned, if he helps our Li family, it will only be icing on the cake. They may not think that they can truly conquer our Li family."

"But the Nguyen family is different. The Ming people have been in Dai Viet for several months. I think they have figured out the political situation in Dai Viet and know that the Nguyen family will always be inferior to the Le family."

"Then the Ming people will definitely think that as long as they help the Nguyen family, the Nguyen family will be grateful and respect the Ming court. If the Ming Dynasty wants to win over a family, it will definitely choose to win over the Nguyen family."

"The purpose of the Ming Dynasty is to stabilize Annan and support the Nguyen family, which is easier to control. This is more in line with the interests of the Ming Dynasty. Pingzhang, this matter cannot be neglected. We must prove to the Ming Dynasty that we are willing to respect the Ming Dynasty earlier than the Nguyen family, so as to gain the support of the Ming Dynasty."

"Otherwise, something bad might happen!"

(End of this chapter)