[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-overthrowing-the-ming":3,"chapter-overthrowing-the-ming-overthrowing-the-ming-chapter-56":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Overthrowing the Ming",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2289283,4476,"Chapter 56: Unexpected","overthrowing-the-ming-chapter-56",56,"\u003Cp>(Please provide 80 follow-up reads.)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The next day, Li You rose early. Having eaten well for the past two days, his body had recovered significantly. Before dawn, he got up to start running. After several laps, he found his physical condition to be incredibly robust, so he picked up a large rock to run with extra weight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After finishing his run, Li You saw it was still early and continued reading. The three books he had taken the previous night had been swiped, so he hadn't examined them closely. Two of them were Buddhist scriptures, which left Li You somewhat speechless; fortunately, there was a Song Dynasty edition of the \"Records of the Grand Historian.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beyond his inherent love for learning, his main reason for reading these now was to make up for his lack of historical knowledge.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Transmigrating without a \"god's-eye view\" was like Naruto without the Nine-Tails or Sun Wukong without his golden cudgel; it was, in any case, quite terrible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Economic base determines the superstructure. By combining the memories of the original body with the broader perspective gained from books, he could acquire more information.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Although he couldn't remember much of the future historical trajectory, he possessed modern thinking. He knew which things were turning back the clock of history and which could continue to develop. This advantage would surely allow him to surpass many of his contemporaries.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The morning sun, round as a child's smiling face, large as an ox-cart wheel, and red as the coals burning in a furnace, sprayed ten thousand rays of golden light as it climbed step by step from the ridge in the east, through the faint, ethereal mist, and into the increasingly steady pupils of the crowd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It shone upon the fields covered in a layer of white frost and upon the small figures sitting upright in the riverbed, where the clear sound of reading had already grown increasingly robust.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even Yu Zhengchun, Heiliuzi, and Ceng Ruan had developed the habit of rising early to study over the past eight or nine days, though their progress was a complete mess, often causing Li You to look up to the heavens and howl before finally giving them a sound thrashing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet they were happy in their hearts, for they unanimously believed that the \"hardship\" of studying was the hardship of being beaten by their teacher. They felt that as long as they were beaten by Li You enough, they would eventually achieve academic success.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li You truly put his heart into the matter of teaching.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every day, he would first review characters, then use radicals to learn new ones, and at the same time, tell them a fairy tale...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"...The surrounding swans took flight, and the Ugly Duckling also spread its broad wings, letting out a 'woo-woo' cry toward the distance as it followed its companions into the high sky. At this moment, the ducks, the cat, and the rooster looked up at the sky and exclaimed in admiration: 'Ah, what a beautiful swan!'\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"'Look, how high they fly!' Everyone did not know that among this flock of swans, one was the very Ugly Duckling that had been mocked by everyone... Alright, that's the end.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After Li You finished, the children were all immersed in the fairy tale world of \"The Ugly Duckling.\" In their miserable life at Longmen Shanzhai, who among them hadn't lived a bitter life steeped in the juice of coptis? Yet, in the expectations of a child's heart, who wouldn't hope to be a white swan?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Brother Teacher, am I a white swan?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Little Orange raised her thin, dark face to ask Li You. Whether in class or in private, Little Orange always said what was on her mind, while the other children appeared more reserved; they had all changed their address for Li You to \"Mr.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Hey, of course you are. After enduring all this hardship, we are all white swans!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li You said, looking around at the children's faces.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Song Baishun had read books before and always felt that Li You was different from other teachers. However, recently, fairy tales like \"The Snail That Pursued Its Dreams\" had him bewitched. He wanted to be the white swan in \"The Ugly Duckling\" and wanted to be Simba in the Kingdom of Glory...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Song Man had previously followed Cao Er, and Xiaoniang and Meidan also helped in the kitchen, so all three had fallen behind in their studies and were working hard to catch up. Compared to the others, she and Xiaoniang were more reticent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ceng Ruan, Heiliuzi, Yu Zhengchun, and Meidan were whispering among themselves. Li You frowned and barked: \"Heiliuzi, what are you saying? Say it out loud!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Oh... I want to be a hunter. I don't care about black swans or white swans; I'll just shoot them all down and roast them to eat!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Heiliuzi was not the least bit timid and said it boldly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beside him, Yu Zhengchun swallowed his saliva and blinked, looking at Li You.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li You truly couldn't understand how Heiliuzi could draw such a conclusion from such a moving story of overcoming adversity. And it was clear that he wasn't the only one who thought so; it was surely the idea of that little rascal, Song Baishun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as Li You was about to lose his temper, Skinny Monkey ran over and said the Great Leader wanted him to go to Beizhai.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It's done?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li You was delighted. He assigned them their lessons, told them to practice writing in the sand, and then followed Skinny Monkey to Beizhai.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beizhai was preparing to eat at this time. Li You was actually very familiar with this mealtime. Not to mention that in the feudal era people ate two meals a day, even when he was a child, he ate two meals: one around 10 o'clock and another around 3 or 4 o'clock; there was certainly no food at night.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The meal consisted of millet porridge that was relatively thick, the leftover meat soup from last night, mostly pickled vegetables, a small dish of dried chili peppers, and steamed buns.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Throughout the thousand years of the feudal era, except for those brief prosperous ages, most people could not get enough to eat. Even Mencius's greatest dream was merely to have enough to eat in a good year and to avoid death in a bad one.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li You's appetite was stirred by the sight of the food, but Skinny Monkey led him to the inner courtyard, where there was a more exquisite meal: a beggar's chicken, flaky pastries, shaomai, steamed buns, stir-fried kidneys, and pork rib soup.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Skinny Monkey quickly withdrew, leaving only Wu Zhuge and Da Yun'er at the table. When bowing to Wu Zhuge, Li You's gaze met Da Yun'er's for a fleeting moment before he sat down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"The second brother should be back soon...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before picking up his chopsticks, Wu Zhuge spoke first: \"Regarding the matter of Old Third Gu, how do you intend to explain it to Cao Er?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Old Third Gu provoked me first... killing him was just that... he was only a lackey, I don't think there's anything to explain!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ha... bold!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Zhuge laughed heartily, then paused and said: \"I tossed and turned thinking about it last night. What you said is not without reason; having people rotate duty at Nanshan is not a long-term solution... It just so happens that Zhang Cang is in charge of the grain stores and can't spare the time, and the brats under him usually lack discipline.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So, I'll just throw them all over to your side at Nanshan. You can train them in archery, and at the same time, they can watch over the miners and salt slaves, so there will be no need for Beizhai to rotate duty.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ah?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li You's heart sank. This was absolutely not what he wanted!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had intended to pull a team out from the miners—first and foremost the seven men including Wu Dading and Li Qinchen, followed by Liu Longjin, Xiang Ying, Wa Qingyun, Qi Jingkun, and others—to quickly establish his own loyal faction.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But with this move by Wu Zhuge, dumping such a large handful of sand into his hands, how was he supposed to carry out his own schemes?\u003C\u002Fp>",1379,"2026-06-20T03:32:06.992Z",1,"Gemini 3.1 Flash Lite","b8653f1883e5448a049e1e8a3f84e93440abf3dcf8c203f6ca065475c7e6e757","overthrowing-the-ming-chapter-57","overthrowing-the-ming-chapter-55",71,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Foverthrowing-the-ming-cover.jpg"]