Chapter 694: Simply force Prince Cheng to rebel

Before leaving the capital, Chen Guanlou went to the villa to see his apprentice, Zhang Yikang.

Two years had passed, and the little guy had grown a lot taller. At such a young age, his eyes were firm, as if a ball of fire was burning in his heart at any time. He always liked to keep a small face, mature beyond his years.

Only when he saw his master, Chen Guanlou, would he show a rare smile.

Chen Guanlou was still dressed as a seventy-year-old man. "Master is leaving the capital for a few days, so the next two lessons are canceled."

"Master is leaving the capital; can you take the disciple with you! The disciple also wants to go out and broaden his horizons. Master, don't worry, the disciple won't cause trouble for Master; the disciple will listen to Master's instructions in everything."

"No!" Chen Guanlou refused sternly. "There is an important matter to attend to this time. I will assign you a homework: one day, if you become a hegemon of a region, and the brothers who followed you to conquer the world commit a crime, and it is an unforgivable serious crime, how will you deal with your brothers? Will you kill them and execute their nine clans, or imprison them, or is there another way to deal with it? Think about it carefully, write down your method and reasons, and I will check it when I return."

As soon as Zhang Yikang heard the homework, he immediately became serious. "Is Master talking about the Son of Heaven dealing with the Prince Jin case? The disciple heard that Prince Jin is gone; it was the Son of Heaven who did it, right."

"Yes! If it were you, how would you deal with it?"

Zhang Yikang said with a serious little face: "But Prince Jin is different; he is just the Son of Heaven's brother, a half-brother. Master's topic, however, is brothers who conquered the world together."

Chen Guanlou raised an eyebrow slightly and asked: "Then in your mind, which brother is more important? You want to rebel; in the future, you will have many brothers by your side. These brothers share joys and sorrows with you, and may even have saved your life, rescuing you from fire and water. May I ask, they committed a crime, touched your reverse scale, and the whole world is watching, wanting to see whether you are saying one thing and doing another or if your words are followed by actions, what will you do?"

Zhang Yikang's little face was tightly wrinkled, very distressed.

Chen Guanlou patted his shoulder and rubbed his head. "Read more history books in the study. There are many similar events in them. You can compare them with history books to make a summary, write an article about the results, what kind of impact it had on the society at that time, and the impact on future generations, and I will read it when I return."

In the blink of an eye, Zhang Yikang had another homework assignment. The workload was huge.

But he never complained that there was too much homework; he only hated that he was young and his knowledge was still too little. His experience was shallow, his knowledge was shallow, and he was worried that the article he wrote would not satisfy Master.

But he still nodded seriously. "Master, don't worry, the disciple will seriously refer to the history books of past dynasties and summarize their experience and lessons."

Hopefully!

The experience and lessons that humans learn from history are that they never learn from history's experience and lessons!

Today, he summarizes experience and lessons for homework; when he is older and faces the same problem, will experience and lessons occupy the upper hand, or will personal subjective will occupy the upper hand?

Chen Guanlou never held too high expectations for anyone.

What he thought was, if Zhang Yikang could learn something from it, this lesson and these two assignments wouldn't be in vain. If he couldn't learn anything, it didn't matter; anyway, he was still young, and he would eventually transform. Whether he becomes good or bad depends on his own fortune.

After explaining everything and having a meal together, Chen Guanlou set off overnight for the northwest.

Below the Grandmaster, he is the king!

The journey was smooth, and in the middle of the night, he arrived at the main military camp, found Marquis Pingjiang, and delivered the luggage.

Marquis Pingjiang had aged a bit, and his eyes were full of red blood.

"It's hard for you to run so far; sit down and have a cup of tea with me."

Chen Guanlou sat down in the lower seat, didn't stand on ceremony, picked up the teapot, poured for himself, and didn't forget to refill the other person's teacup.

"Is the eldest master worried about the imperial court's insistence on recalling you to the capital?"

"Do you think I should be worried about this?"

"That depends on what the eldest master is seeking. If it's fame and fortune, then return! This battle might as well be stopped; although there is a suspicion of giving up halfway, at least your own wealth is not a worry. If what the eldest master is seeking is the word 'ambition,' I'm afraid now is not a good time."

"Oh? You don't think highly of it?" Marquis Pingjiang raised an eyebrow slightly.

Chen Guanlou said casually: "Fighting in both the north and south, one fight lasts for several years, yet the imperial court hasn't collapsed; it looks like it can support it for another ten or twenty years. Although this tax increase has caused complaints among the people, to be honest, it hasn't touched the bottom line of the commoners' endurance, and the people still have potential to be tapped."

The implication was that the commoners could continue to be squeezed for a few more waves. The commoners' endurance was incredibly strong; unless they were driven to a dead end, they wouldn't rebel.

Even many commoners had reached the end of their rope and had no way out, yet they wouldn't think of rebelling. They would only think, "My life is bitter, heaven doesn't open its eyes, I'll be reincarnated into a good family in the next life." They wouldn't think about who caused them to fall to this step. Was it natural disasters, landlords, or the government, the imperial court, the system...

They would accept their fate and then honestly wait for death!

Before dying, they didn't even have the courage or the idea to pick up a kitchen knife and slash at the evil person who bullied them. They were accustomed to weakness, accustomed to accepting fate, accustomed to being good citizens, accustomed to "let it be, let it be, I'll be reincarnated into a good family in the next life."

Bloodiness?

It has always been a quality possessed by only a few people.

And it is only this small number of people who can lead the masses to rebel and form a follow-the-crowd effect.

In the final analysis, the time has not yet come.

The Great Gan has not yet shown the atmosphere of the end of a dynasty.

But reform is possible!

Reform the Emperor's life!

Chen Guanlou, from beginning to end, believed that the Emperor was redundant, and being a decoration was the best. Pointing fingers was annoying and redundant.

The eldest master leaned on his cane and smiled casually. "I am the heart of the nobles; if I easily hand over military power, wouldn't I appear very cowardly!"

"The eldest master is right. To take care of the Emperor's face while demonstrating military force, this matter is indeed a bit difficult."

"Listening to your meaning, do you have a way to solve it?" Marquis Pingjiang just asked casually; he didn't expect a young man to give a useful suggestion.

Chen Guanlou didn't think seriously either, but he was good at opening his brain, and said casually: "A ready-made reason! Prince Cheng is so close; let Prince Cheng rebel, and all problems will be solved."

Wow!

Really good at opening his brain.

Marquis Pingjiang was clearly stunned by his suggestion, and after a while, he came back to his senses. "You mean forcing Prince Cheng to rebel?"

"There are too many vassal kings in the world, all of them sitting in their positions and wasting food. Copy a few, kill a few, and it will be considered reducing the burden on the commoners; it's not too much."

Marquis Pingjiang suddenly laughed out loud, laughing so happily that he waved his hand repeatedly. "Not too much, not too much at all! Vassal kings occupy local wealth and exploit the local commoners, like a group of locusts, endless, generation after generation. It is indeed a bit redundant!" ===== CHAPTER 695 =====